LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

Sermon June 5, 2005 Proper 5 A

           ^“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.”  Just like that.  Some of us could do that; some could not.

          We have some general information about the political and social situation in the Holy Land in Jesus’. Time. Galilee had been conquered by Rome, and the local ruler, Herod Antipas, was a client king – like Eastern Europe under Soviet domination. A ten percent sales tax was collected at the markets, but this being the Middle East where all prices were negotiated, the tax collector set the value of the goods. And the rulers “farmed” the tax collection to private individuals. The ruler got a lump sum payment in advance, and the tax collectors kept whatever they could get over that sum. You can see the potential for abuse and you can see why the people hated the local tax collectors.

Jesus called Matthew from the tax booth to follow him, “And he got up and followed him.”  We don’t know why he did. We really don’t know why people do what they do. Frequently we don’t know why we do what we do. But Matthew “got up and followed him.”  And began by having Jesus to dinner. 

There’s a similar story in the 19^th chapter of St. Luke’s gospel about Zacchaeus in Jericho. Zacchaeus is described as short, a chief tax collector, and rich. He climbed into a sycamore tree to see Jesus. When Jesus saw him there, he called him by name, and said, “I must stay at your house today.” Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus, and when people complained that he was a sinner – presumably because he had abused his position as tax collector, offered half of his possessions to the poor, and promised to repay fourfold if he had defrauded anyone. The experience of Jesus brought Zacchaeus to repentance.

We are not told whether Matthew’s experience of Jesus brought Matthew to a similar repentance and promise of restitution, but we are told that as Jesus sat at dinner in Matthew’s house, “many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees complained, Jesus referred them to the passage from the prophet Hosea we heard as the first lesson, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” and went on to say. ”I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

We are all sinners, sinners saved by God’s grace. We experience God’s grace – God’s love for us unearned and undeserved – in Jesus Christ. And the experience of Jesus calls us, like Zacchaeus, out of the tree to open the door of our heart and life to Jesus. Do you remember the picture of Jesus in the long white robe holding the lantern, knocking at the door? Do you remember that the door has no handle on the outside; it must be opened from within. 

One of my favorite hymns begins,

“O Jesus, thou art standing, outside the fast closed door,

in lowly patience waiting to pass the threshold o’er.

Shame on us Christian brothers, his name and sign who bear,

O shame, thrice shame upon us, to keep him standing there.”

The hymn goes on,

“O Jesus, thou are knocking, and lo! That hand is scarred,

and thorns thy brow encircle, and tears thy face have marred;

O love that passeth knowledge, so patiently to wait!

O sin that hath no equal, so fast to bar the gate!

O Jesus, thou art pleading, in accents meek and low,

“I died for you my children, and will you treat me so?”

O Lord, with shame and sorrow we open now the door:

Dear saviour enter, enter, and leave us nevermore.”

That hymn was written in 1867 by W. W. How.  It was number 407 in the Hymnal 1940. I suspect the revisers of 1982 thought it too sentimental for their advanced and sophisticated taste, but there is some truth in the sentiment.

^“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” Matthew was hated and reviled by the people because he was a tax collector and a sinner, but Jesus  saw him sitting at the tax booth; and  said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.”

Jesus saw Zacchaeus in the tree and called him down, and Zacchaeus came down and repented. Jesus calls us, wherever we are and whatever we are doing, to follow him. Matthew “got up and followed him.” At one time or another I think all of us have heard his call and made the decision to follow Jesus. If you never have made that decision, today’s a good day to make it. For those of us who made the decision in the past, today is a good day to renew it.

The collect we will say together in a few minutes includes the prayer that by God’s “inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by his merciful guiding may do them.” God the Holy Spirit will speak to us in conscience to guide our thoughts in the right way, and the same spirit will, if asked, give us the power to respond to Jesus call in every thought, word, and action.

⁹ 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. Amen.

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