Sermon

June 7 & 8, 2008

Paul Johnson

 

            If you are a nurse, a pharmacist, a doctor, a dentist, or an engineer would you please raise your hand?

              I want to tell you something…I want to tell you that we think you are real winners.  We think you’re great.  The Gallup Corporation did another poll recently of the most respected professions in the United States, and y’all are at the top of the list.  Congratulations.  Now, I didn’t read the article all the way to the end because I decided I didn’t really want to see who was at the bottom of the list.  I’m just kind of hoping it’s not clergy…

              But even without a Gallup poll, I know the answer to the bottom of the list question for first-century Palestine:  Tax-collectors.  Nobody liked tax-collectors.

              Now there really isn’t an equivalent in our culture to the tax-collector in ancient Israel.  There are professions we respect more than others; and there are certain kinds of jobs we might not like; and certain kinds of jobs we might find distasteful.  You know, the “Dirty Jobs” guy on TV.

              But there’s a difference between a job that makes us dirty, and a job that makes us unclean.  And to be a tax-collector was to be unclean.

              The Israel of Jesus’ time was an occupied land.  It was the Romans who were in charge, and they weren’t Israelites.  A tax-collector was a Jew who worked for the Romans; who collected funds from his neighbors, and sent the money off to Rome to make the oppressors stronger.  And he made his living by collecting and pocketing more than the government demanded.  He was a Quisling, and an extortionist.

              So they may have done their jobs, but they weren’t welcome.  Their constant contact with Gentiles forbade them from participating in the Jewish religious community, and the disdain with which they were held by their neighbors made it so that they had few friends…and that probably, the friends they had were the kind of people no one else wanted to hang around with; the kind of people we don’t know because we probably don’t hang around with them either.

              This particular tax-collector, named Matthew, is a small town kind of tax-collector.  He works retail.  Everyone knows his name, and everyone knows what he does for a living.  Fathers tell their daughters to stay away from him, and sons dream of finding him alone in a dark alley because of what he takes from their mothers.

              And if you don’t think the kingdom of God is filled with surprises…of all the people to whom Jesus could say “follow me,” he says it to Matthew.  And if you don’ think people can sometimes be surprising, what Matthew does is say “yes.”  He leaves what he’s doing, and a life shrouded in darkness is brought into the light; a life of bondage to greed, or guilt, or regret is redeemed through the simple words “follow me.” God gives him the grace to see it’s the chance of a lifetime, so he ups and goes.

              So what’s the first thing you do after saying “yes” to Jesus?  Here’s the answer Matthew gives:  You throw a party.  It’s worth celebrating when God walks into our life, and when the joy of the kingdom is experienced.  So all his sinner friends show up, and so does the rabbi.  All sorts of folks, with all sorts of stories too shameful to tell, and a rabbi…turning up the music, having a party, and celebrating that the lost have been found.  If they had a fatted calf, they cut it up that night.

              Apparently some of the Jewish religious leaders saw what was going on.  They were probably standing in the street, since getting too close would make them unclean, themselves.  “What’s going on?” they wonder.  “This is not the way it’s supposed to be.”  Pharisees of every age, and every religion, have been wont to say things like that.        

And so here’s the word:  “I have come to call not the righteous, but the sinners.”

              It’s a great story; one of my personal favorites.  One to make us joyful.  Because we’re all a little bit like Matthew.  We all know that the truth is not that there are clean people and unclean people, but that we’re each a little bit of both.  It’s not that some are saints and others are sinners.  We’re all saints and sinners, at the same time; we each got some places where we could use Jesus doing some clean up work.  And what Jesus says to Matthew, he says to us:  “Come on.  Follow me.” And then maybe, if we listen closely enough, “I’m coming to the party at your house.”

              Well, here are three things we learn about Jesus from this story…

              The first is the grandness of his vision for the kingdom.  It’s a vision of a kingdom that grows, and grows, and grows; where people who need the healing mercies of God can always find a home, have a seat at the table, and be transformed.  The kingdom of God is a little bit like the universe…it has no end, and it keeps expanding.  As long as there is one person who needs to have their life changed, there’s still places for the kingdom to grow. 

Because it’s not closed.  God doesn’t close it, so we don’t close it.  It’s open to everyone, especially to everyone who knows they need the wholeness and healing and fullness it promises.  Anybody who wants their life to be made better through a relationship with Jesus is invited in, no matter what, and has reserved for them a seat at the table.  That is his vision for the kingdom.  We keep our doors open here all the time as a symbol of that welcome.  We put the word “inviting” at the beginning of our mission to remind us that there’s someone out there called to heroic faithfulness, love, and service; they just don’t know it yet.  That’s the vision he gives to us.  It’s a big table that Jesus sets.

              Here’s the second thing we learn about Jesus…how he sees the possibilities.  Jesus doesn’t just see Matthew.  He sees what Matthew can become.  I am convicted that Jesus asks the best of us.  But before that, he sees the best in us.  The Christian life is one that looks towards what could be, and what is possible.  In fact, even the possible is sometimes too limiting.  So we throw our lot in with the impossible. 

              Because I guarantee you…everyone in that town thought it was impossible that Matthew the tax-collector’s life could be redeemed.  There weren’t people walking by his booth saying, “You know, someday Matthew will be a great witness to the power of God’s love so much so that 2000 years later people will still be reading his words.”

              But one person walked by and saw something that nobody else saw, and he brought it out of him.

              Someone once gave me this image of what happened after Matthew’s dinner party.  Everybody’s gone, and it’s just him and Jesus, finishing the clean-up.  And all the dishes are finally done, and it’s time to go home, and they walk out under the stars, and it’s mostly quiet, and Jesus puts his arm around his new friend and says, “Matthew, I love what I see in you.  I love your heart.  I love how you invited your friends to supper so I could meet them.  I love how much you care.  And I love how you made room for me.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

              Now, that’s not in the Bible.  But it wouldn’t surprise me if it were true.  Because Jesus is always a God of hope and promise, who sees what can be better than we can ourselves. 

              That’s the second thing.  Here’s the third…that Jesus seems to have enjoyed a good party.  He shows up at Matthew’s house, so it seemed he like to have a good time and celebrate.  Remember that one of his favorite images for the kingdom is the wedding banquet.  I don’t think he was nearly as sad and serious as all those paintings make him look.  I mean, after all, because he’s the Son of God he trusts in his Father in heaven perfectly and completely, and the life of trust is a life of joy, and humor, and smiles, and laughter; or at least, it’s a life of peace.  Because when trusting a trustworthy God, what could possibly go wrong?  I mean think about what we believe—that even the worst thing…death…is not the worst thing.  It’s just a new beginning.  We read from Romans tonight.  The whole book of Romans is about trust.  The question the Apostle is addressing there is “Is God trustworthy?” And his answer is “yes.” And that’s worth celebrating.

              When the Lord is present it’s time to dance, and the Lord is always present.  This eternal life we’ve been given is good, and there is joy, and everything that comes is one more opportunity to learn a new way of faithful living.

              Now as you heard me mention before worship, part of worship today is that in a few minutes we’re going to put on a piece of paper whether or not we are ready to move ahead with the building plans that have been put before this congregation, and take on the debt necessary to do so.  We’ve talked about this these last few weeks, and we’ll do this in just a few minutes.  We’re taking this action together in worship so that this action might be done worshipfully; and that we might take it remembering our God is big God with a broad vision for the kingdom; that Jesus sees possibilities for us and our neighborhood that we haven’t even imagined yet; and that this is a joyful action we enter into because God is trustworthy, and kingdom-living is a life of celebration.

              So what we do is give ourselves the opportunity to participate.  We’ve heard the plan, how it works, and what we’ll have to do to get there.  So we put down on a piece of paper how God, working through our conscience, has convicted each of us.  Our responses to the feasibility study told us that this is a time to ask us the question, and given us some sense of how we will answer.  But part of our tradition is that we believe the Holy Spirit works pretty effectively through a corporate process, and before we move in any direction it’s a good idea to see if that’s the direction we, as the Body, actually feel called to move in.

But really what is so lovely and exciting is that we’re finally doing it.  And I think that makes Jesus smile.  We’ve been talking about it, and talking about it, and talking about it, and now we’re going to do this together.  We got the chance to be the Church today, everybody; the chance to seek God’s will, imagine the possibilities (even the impossibilities); do our part; trust God to do God’s part; and to do all this together.  It’s not the most important thing we’ll ever do—there will be, and have been, more important things in our life than all this--but it sure is exciting and fun and something to celebrate.

              So here’s how it works, everybody.  If you are sixteen and above, and a member of this congregation, you are invited to cast a ballot.  You are a member of this congregation if you are regular in worship and are giving, praying, and working for the growth of the kingdom of God.  We’ll have some quiet time after this message when you can indicate your preference, we’ll gather up the ballots with the regular offering, and bring them forward when we set the table.

If you are not a member of this congregation, we ask that you say your prayers, and observe how we seek to be a single community following Christ.  And then, we invite you to become part of this community because a life with Jesus is a better life, one filled with celebration.

There are two options on the piece of paper:  Approve and Disapprove.  And we recognize, of course, that people are different, and not everyone will agree.  That happens, and that’s okay.

A “disapprove” simply means this:  that we believe God has something different in store for us than what we’ve been talking about—not something better or worse, just something different; and if necessary, we do some re-thinking; all the time remembering and rejoicing that God is trustworthy and in charge.

              An “approve” means this:  that we trust this is God’s plan for us; that we are each individually ready and willing to lend our spiritual and material gifts to this effort; that we will begin the capital campaign effort, we will continue the planning, and we will hope to break ground sometime in December; all the time remembering and rejoicing that God is trustworthy and in charge.  “Approve” means “let’s go.”

              There are two different ways to mark the piece of paper.  But really, there is one divine response that is always true, no matter what:  God isn’t done with us.  The Lord is too rich, and there is too much out there, for us to be finished.  And always, the kingdom of God is a big one; filled with amazing possibilities for today and tomorrow; and one where there is joy and celebration…even, like at Matthew’s house, a party.