When Cyndi and I walk with each other, one or both of us have to adjust our pace or we will not be walking together. If I am the one doing the adjustment, I have to increase my pace or I will be left behind. Usually I speed up because we are also walking for exercise.
As followers of Jesus we are called walk in step with Jesus. Seeing that Jesus is the one who is leading, you and I are the ones who have to adjust our pace if we hope to walk with him. But how do we know the adjustments we need to make?
Today’s passage gives us a snapshot of Jesus in action and explanation of his motives. His words and actions provide a baseline to examine our own actions and attitudes. What we notice in this passage is that Jesus was not in step with the religious people of the day. The religious leaders were in step with one another but they were out of step with Jesus.
Many of us here, because we attend church on Sunday, read our bibles at least occasionally, pray, and maybe even mention God to others in our conversations, would be classified as religious by the people around us. But are we in step or out of step with Jesus?
The events which revealed the contrast between Jesus and the religious centered on Matthew, whose occupation was collecting taxes for the Roman government from his Jewish countryman. Jesus invites this despised tax collector to follow him. Matthew responds by immediately leaving behind his tax collection booth to be with Jesus. Later in the day Matthew held a dinner party for Jesus. Matthew did not stop with hosting Jesus and his disciples. He also invited his friends and co-workers.
The religious people were not impressed by Jesus’ actions. They called a couple of Jesus disciples aside and asked: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
The question points to the Pharisees’ understanding of holiness. For the Pharisees, holiness involved separation from the non religious. It’s important to remember that they had Old Testament support for their view. , Sharing a social occasion or having fellowship with people who were not religious was not allowed. One could be contaminated or, in an Old Testament sense, made unclean by those who did follow the rules of God.
Hear Exra’s exhortation when the people failed to separate themselves hear Ezra’s exhortation: “Now make confession to the LORD the God of your ancestors, and do his will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives. (Ezra 10:11)”
So what was Jesus doing? Through his actions, he was changing the rules. As the son of God, he came to introduce the Kingdom of God. God was introducing a new way of relating to human kind. He sent Jesus to bring salvation into the world. Jesus through his life, death, and resurrection introduced grace, forgiveness, and new life. A new order was breaking into the world. If the Pharisees wanted to stay in step with Jesus, they would have to adjust their thinking.
Jesus did not do away with the need for pure living or separation from the evils of the world. A new relationship with God involved transformation. A new person in Christ leaves behind those things that do not honour God. He or she does so out of love for God.
The Apostle Paul emphasized the need for separation to the Corinthians, who wanted to continue to be involved in idol worship. “What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (1 Corinthians 6:16-18; 7:1)”
Jesus makes it clear that following God and being separate does not mean isolation from those around us. Jesus’ prayer for his disciples John 17: 15-18 helps us understand the distinction between separation and isolation in. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”
Jesus desires his disciples to be pure and holy, free from the clutches of the evil one, living according to the truth of his word. Yet Jesus did not want his people to isolate themselves from the world around them to be knights in shining armour riding in for the rescue.
We can be thankful that God did not isolate himself from us. God sent Jesus on a mission. He sent his son into the world to bring the eternal life that only God can give. Amen!!! He calls us to continue the most important mission in the world.
In response to the Pharisees, Jesus spells out his mission. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick... For I have come not to call the righteous, but also sinners.”
C. S. Lewis once wrote: “The salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world.”
Think about that for a moment. Do we really believe it? Are you in step? Am I in step with the mission of Jesus? Where does helping a person find Jesus fit on your priority list?
Helen Keller relates her experience of blindness to helping a person discover God’s love with these words: “There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark.”
To help a person find spiritual sight, we cannot isolate ourselves from others and think that somehow in so doing we are being holy. We are called to make a difference in the lives of others through Jesus. Accomplishing the mission of Jesus cannot and will not happen through isolation. It happens by going into the world but not being of the world.
To get in step with Jesus and be mission-oriented involves an attitude of mercy. He says to the Pharisees and to us: “But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
One way to begin understanding what Jesus means by this is to realize that sacrifice is not a substitute for mercy. To the Pharisee, Jesus is saying, “You can precisely follow the sacrificial ritual but if you don’t show mercy toward others you have blown it. You are not in the game.” To us he says. “You can offer the sacrifice of praise with great enthusiasm, but if you leave this place and don’t show mercy, forget it ... You are failing to understand what God desires.”
Jesus demonstrates mercy in his interaction with Matthew. He did not walk by Matthew and dismiss him as an unredeemable tax collector. No doubt people – probably religious people in particular – had piled heaps of condemnation on Matthew. He had heard pious people say “How could you? Your parents were such good people ... Don’t you have any conscience? Does money mean so much to you that you would betray and cheat your own people?” If no one had the courage to say these words directly to Matthew – he felt it from their angry looks, turned heads, and social isolation.
Instead Jesus spoke to Matthew, not about taxes, not in condemnation but about new life. He said, “Follow me.” By inviting Matthew to follow him Jesus initiates a relationship. He invites Matthew to come along—be one of his group. Notice that Matthew jumps at the opportunity! He was ready to leave his old life behind.
Matthew did not need Jesus’ condemnation. Matthew needed mercy. He needed redemption – a way out of the pit he dug for himself. He needed a helping hand to put him on a new path. He needed the hope of a different future – a God filled future made possible through God’s kindness and forgiveness.
Jesus’ actions and his response to the Pharisees give us several ways to stay in step with him.
First he calls us to stay engaged with the world around us. We are not to isolate ourselves from evil in an attempt to be holy.
Secondly, we understand that Jesus came to help those who recognize their need of redemption. He holds out his hand to the so called “sinner” and despised in our culture and says. “There is a place for you. Come, follow me.” By eating with Matthew’s friends, Jesus was also saying to Matthew, “By the way, my invitation is for your friends as well.”
Thirdly, he also wants us to learn the meaning of mercy in contrast to sacrifice. Do not imagine that praise and worship or faithful attendance is a substitute for mercy. Praise and worship will not function as a cover up for a condemning spirit. God appreciates praise and worship, but he wants praise and worship from those who join him in reaching in mercy out to those who need redemption. Part of what it means to truly worship God is to reach out in mercy to others.
Here is the challenge: Think about the people in your life. Are there some you are quick to condemn or dismiss or isolate? Who are the people to whom Jesus wants you to show mercy?
Remember Jesus’ words to the Pharisees when they question his willingness to eat with those they condemned. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Our desire as a congregation is to be the hands of Jesus, to bring people into a right relationship with God. The Alpha Course is helping us do this. Alpha exists to help you introduce the people around you to the mercy of God. Hear from one person who found God’s mercy in our Alpha program:
Val’s Story
Today, some are in need of the mercy and acceptance God offers. Leave your present life and follow in the steps of Jesus, accepting his forgiveness and call to be his disciple!
Others may be convicted by the realization that you have been short on mercy and long on condemnation towards the people you feel do not measure up. Taking time to reflect and give thanks for the mercy of God in your own life is the start to a life that is in step with Jesus in receiving God’s mercy and extending it to other.