Matthew 9,9-13. Septuagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Matthew 9,9-13   1013

Septuagesimä  020 

John Chrysostom, Preacher and Patriarch of Constantinople, Martyr 407

27. January 2013

1. O Heavenly Father, gracious in mercy and justice, You sent Your Only-begotten Son to redeem us from sin and the curse of sin. We are prideful. We are demanding. We fail to fully comprehend Your good will. Pour out upon us God the Holy Spirit and give us the same mind as Your Beloved Son, Christ Jesus, for as He teaches us in today’s parable, You give eternal life equally to all people regardless of who they are. Help us to spread the joy of this parable to our borough and neighbors for in doing so we are pointing them to Jesus who brings the good gift of life everlasting.  Amen. 

2. As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting in the tax office, and He said to him: „Follow Me.“ And he rose and followed Him. And as Jesus reclined for a meal in the house, and behold, many tax collectors and sinners arrived and were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they were saying to His disciples: „Why does your rabbi eat with tax collectors and sinners?“ But when He heard it, He said: „Those who are healthy have no need of a doctor, but those who are sick do. Go and learn what this means: »I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.« [Hosea 6,6] For I did not come not to call the righteous, but I came to call sinners to repentance.“

3. Jesus quoted the Prophet Hosea when He declared: »I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.« Hosea accused Israel of being fickle in their love, of breaking the covenant, of being evildoers, robbers lying in wait for victims, murderers and idolaters (4, 7-10). Such accusations fit our sinful lives too. 

4. The Pharisees held themselves, and their fellow Jews, to a high moral standard. They would only eat with people of their class level and those who were pure. Tax collectors and other sinners were denied their table fellowship. They held it as unacceptable that a rabbi would dine with such filth. We do not normally think of the Apostle Matthew as a sinner, but according to the Pharisees he was. Matthew was a tax collector. He worked for the Romans and collected taxes from his fellow Jews for the Roman emperor. The Pharisees saw this as treason. Matthew was also a wealthy man, as tax collectors were wont to be, but his wealth was from ill-gotten gains. The Pharisees would not eat with him, but Jesus would.  Not only would Jesus eat with Matthew, but He called Him to be one of His disciples and shortly thereafter one of His twelve apostles. 

5. The Pharisees were strong on obedience to the laws of Moses and the traditions of the elders, but weak on mercy and grace. Their zeal was fierce and their morality impeccable, but they had completely misunderstood the covenant and the laws of Moses. Again, we do the same. We hold others to a high standard as regards the commandments and our particular traditions in the church, often being more concerned when the traditions are ignored as opposed to the commandments broken. When sinners repent and seek repentance, we can often withhold or refuse such mercy to them. It is who we are as sinners. 

6. Thankfully, Jesus is our physician. Jesus came to this earth for sinners and to call them to repentance and salvation. Jesus called the Pharisees, too, and even dined with them, but many of the Pharisees refused to see themselves in the mirror of the law as sinners equally condemned like the tax collectors. That is all Jesus can do. He extended the call to salvation, but human beings can refuse the hand of fellowship that Jesus extends. Many of the Pharisees refused the call of Jesus, but you have not. You heard the Word of Yahweh go forth, and by the working of the Holy Spirit you received Jesus and believed upon Him for your forgiveness and salvation. In calling sinners unto repentance, Jesus has made those sinners righteous. Yes, Jesus gives us poor, miserable sinners His very own righteousness. 

7. Their are plenty of sinners out there in the world, and we have pews to spare for them. Your task is to call sinners unto Jesus. You need to fill this church up to capacity each Sunday. It begins by bringing someone with you each Sunday. If each one here brings another person with you each week, then our attendance doubles from 20 to 40. And if that 40 can double to 80 and then 160, then these empty, dusty pews will be occupied with sinners needing to hear about Jesus. I do not just exhort you to do this because we need more people here to survive as a church, but more importantly because there are people right now, not in any church, who when they die are going to end up in hell unless Jesus gets into their hearts. As Christians you have a duty and a responsibility to save your neighbors. You have a church with plenty of room for such neighbors. Make it a weekly goal to invite someone to join your for church. Do not get discouraged and do not give up; keep inviting and keep bringing. Give people an opportunity to hear the gospel, repent and receive the salvation Jesus freely offers. 

8. The Prophet Hosea declared: »For I, Yahweh, desire mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings« (Hosea 6,6). Jesus the fulfillment of this Divine Word. Jesus is Yahweh’s mercy made flesh, and the knowledge of God for human beings. The Apostle John speaks of Jesus this way: »And the Word became flesh and  dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him, and cried out: This was he of whom I said: He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me. And from His fullness we have all received,  grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses;  grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God;  the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known« (John 1,14-18). 

9. Jesus is the mercy and knowledge of God, and He gives us Godly mercy with His death on the cross and He gives us Godly knowledge that those who die in Christ will live forever in His holy presence.  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, we present our pleas before You because of Your great mercy; hear our petitions and graciously answer them so that we may remain steadfast on You when the tribulations of this world would drive us from You.  Amen.

To God alone be the Glory 

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.