Devotional Messages

Matthew 9:10-13 – 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.”  (NRSV)

Our religious system is very different from the one that Jesus and the Pharisees lived within, and yet, we don’t have much trouble understanding Jesus’ point.  “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’” he told them.  And though the traditions of our faith do not involve sacrifices the way ancient Judaism did, we know this command is just as relevant to us as it was to the Pharisees.

The line between sinners and righteous people in this story is far clearer than our experience tells us it is.  But is Jesus drawing that line, or is he merely responding to a line the Pharisees have already drawn?  Perhaps what he’s saying is that anyone is invited, as long as we’re willing to admit to our own sinful natures.

At any rate, regardless of where we would place ourselves on some imaginary spectrum of sinfulness, there is a larger point that Jesus is concerned with.  He is not interested in what is proper, but in what is loving.  He is not interested in what is popular, but in what is needed.  He is not going to wait for people to come to the temple, but instead is carrying the kingdom of God out to those who would never dare enter the temple.

Our call is to share the good news.  We must continue to share it with one another, continually remembering our own need for confession, repentance and forgiveness.  But we cannot stop there, because there are others, outside our faith communities, who need to hear about that mercy too.

Collect for the Week:  Loving God, who sends sun and rain to the just and the unjust alike, grant that we might refrain from making distinctions and share the good news of your mercy with all in need, so that your kingdom might grow throughout our world.  Through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, Amen.