Sermon June 8th 2008
Jared Rakness
Sermon June 8th 2008
First Reading Deuteronomy 11:18-28
Second Reading Romans 4:13-25
Gospel Matthew 9:9-13; 18-26
“For whom did Jesus come?”
Dear hearers of the Word of God, Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Let us pray: Lord Christ, you have called us all to follow you, and in so doing you bestow upon us faith to believe all that you have done and all that you are. Make us to believe this again today, for we know that we must daily drown our old self in the waters of our baptism so that we might be raised up to a new life in you, so come now Lord and bestow this faith upon us, for we pray in Jesus name, amen.
Last week the second reading for the day came from Paul’s letter to the Roman’s the 3rd chapter. In it Paul explains to the Roman Church that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, none are righteous no not one. Paul is declaring or proclaiming to the church the reality of the cross of Jesus Christ, how the final judgment has already been made and we have all been found guilty.
In the reading for today from the 4th chapter of Roman’s Paul explains how this God who suffered and died is also the God that goes around and elects or predestines people for faith and then through this faith, which God has given to the sinner, God bestows or actually forensically makes one righteous according to the righteousness of his Son Christ our Lord. To explain this Paul now speaks of the call of Abraham.
Here Paul makes a very important distinction as he says “The promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” What Paul is saying here is that it is God’s work not Abrahams that makes him righteous, it is God’s work of calling the sinner and making them righteous not according to the law, but by faith.
This of course is a radically different understanding of the law. For the Jews saw the law as something to be fulfilled according to their own works. They saw the law as something that would bring them closer to God, make them more righteous, making them better than everyone else. But here Paul ends that thinking by telling them that it is God who makes one righteous, it is God’s work not yours.
And as sons of Abraham or descendants of Abraham you must understand that Abraham the father of your faith did not earn his righteousness, but it was bestowed upon him by God himself. If you think otherwise then faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath Paul writes, but where there is no law, neither is there violation. “For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham.”
Oh and by the way Paul writes this God who called Abraham, this is the same God who “gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” Next Paul explains Abraham’s age, you see when Abraham received the call from God he was around 100 years old, now at this age there is no trusting in the things of the flesh there is no hoping in the things of the body.
So Paul writes Abraham had faith in God, faith that God would fulfill his promise to Abraham making of his descendants a great nation. Paul is saying that in this act of calling Abraham an old man, God is showing that the promise comes through faith and by no other means, especially not the body.
Paul wraps up this part by explaining faith and righteousness. “Therefore (Paul writes) his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness. Now the words, it was reckoned to him, were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raise for our justification.”
This is not only for Abraham and his descendants Paul is saying, this is for you who hear this word as well, for this is how God is working in you, bringing your old self to an end and creating that which is pleasing to God, a new creation, a new creature who is now fully and completely in Christ Jesus, who we are told, died for our sins and was raise for our justification.
Now let’s move on to the Gospel to see exactly how this functions. First I want to read the first part of this text again, only this time I want you to listen from three different perspectives. To begin with listen to this text from the perspective of the Pharisees, now the Pharisees were the righteous according to the law, they are the religious or the spiritual, if anyone asked who the most religious or spiritual people are in this community they would probably be directed to a Pharisee.
Now the Pharisee was concerned with right living, which is living according to the law with all of its demands and mandatory sacrifices. This is their main concern, the ritual, the sacrifice, the going through the right and proper movements in order to be made right with God; this is what they are all about, the law and their own righteousness according to the law. So listen from this perspective as Jesus comes into town:
“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
This man Jesus Christ must have driven the Pharisee, the righteous ones absolutely crazy, here Jesus has come and brought an end to their way of life, he has come and ended their system. By his words he has called the sinner and made them righteous, not according to any system or sacrifice, but entirely by his word to them, come and follow me, and in these words you find mercy and not sacrifice.
Now listen to it again only from the perspective of Jesus, here he has come to his people who have waited so long for their messiah and when he actually accomplishes what he is sent for, forgiving sinners, all the righteous complain. So listen to it again only from Jesus perspective:
“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
Here Jesus has come to make the sick whole, to heal not only the body but the soul and make it right before God, but the gate keepers of the Jewish faith don’t want it because it ends their way of life, it brings to an end their system so they are angry, “why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners”. Jesus came for a people who were long expecting him, but when he came and did what it is that he is sent for they could not stomach it, they just could not stomach sinners being forgiven.
Now from the third perspective of Matthew the tax collector, one who is hated for his deceitful ways, one who prospers at the expense of others, a real sinner, that is what you have with Matthew, so here he is sitting at his table collecting his taxes, the excess of which belongs to him, here he is a hated man.
“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
For Matthew this call is sweet, it is beautiful, for salvation has come to him this very day, and Christ the Messiah has made him whole, made him righteous, not according to the law or works, by through the faith that was created in Matthew when Jesus said to him, come and follow me. You see the righteous always hate it when the sinner is forgiven, but for the sinner it is sheer bliss, it is grace and it is peace, it is mercy.
So Matthew does the only thing he can do, he leaves everything behind and follows Christ, something the Pharisees were unwilling to do, for in this calling Jesus has brought an end to Matthew the tax collector, killing the old we like to say, and in its place Jesus raises up a new man, a new creation one who now lives solely and completely in and through Jesus Christ.
Now through the rest of this Gospel you see how it is that faith is poured out, Jesus my daughter has died, come and heal her, and if I only touch his cloak then I will be healed. Faith is created in this story, faith that no longer clings to the Pharisees and their laws, but faith that clings solely and completely to Christ alone.
So today I tell you this faith is also for you, so come and follow Christ, the one who gives you all good things, the one who makes faith in you and shows you mercy, so come and follow Christ, amen.
http://ilcep.org/ilcblog/public_html/article.php?story=20080609093845933