Matthew 9:9-13

Matthew 9:9-13 

English Standard Version 

  For Caleb, there are two categories of bad food.  There's foods he doesn't like, and then there are vegetables.  The vegetables are a category unto themselves, they're that bad.

  I've always appreciated the way the Pharisees divide sinners -- you can be a sinner, and then the tax collectors are so bad that they get their own category!  Lumping them in with all the other sinners would give those sinners a bad reputation.  (Tax collectors were working for Rome, which was the invading army, so they were seen as traitors, and then they were often corrupt, so they worked for the occupying army and stole from their own people.)

  Despite this reputation, Jesus goes straight to the tax collectors and invites Matthew, a tax collector, to be his disciple.  With people like Matthew, Jesus formed a community that stretches around the world to this day.

  So let's not assume there is anyone beyond the reach and love and grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.  Not you, not me, not anyone.

Matthew 9:1-8

Matthew 9:1-8

English Standard Version 

  At a certain point, the disciples had to look at people bringing Jesus someone to heal and think it was just another run-of-the-mill healing.  There'd been so many healings, they likely seemed commonplace, which is crazy, right?  Miracles upon miracles, each a wonder to the one receiving it, and yet once you've seen 15 healings, they start to blend together, right?

  It reminds me a little of a comedian who pointed out how easily we begin to view the miraculous as mundane.  I forget who it is, but they talk about how we complain about the food when we fly, despite the fact that we're sitting in a chair, in the sky, going 500 mph.  It's really pretty amazing, but we take it for granted.  

  I think about the things I often complain about each day... and how easy it is to lose sight of the miraculous gift that each new day is.  It's a gift, a true gift, and I can walk into the world knowing that I am infinitely loved by the God who handcrafted the universe.  When this God saw us in a place of need, God reached down and healed the true hurt within us, forgiving us our sins and restoring us to new life in Christ. 

  Thanks be to God!

Sermon for August 29, 2021 (Mark 1:9-20)

Matthew 8:28-34

Matthew 8:28-34 

English Standard Version 

  The end of this passage always gets to me -- here is Jesus, able to restore men so fierce that people wouldn't even go near them, stronger than any force that has ever walked the face of the earth... and the people are afraid and beg him to leave.

  This is what happens when we lower our vision.  When we fix our eyes on heaven, we get the earth thrown in.  But when we focus on earth, we miss out on both, because we're so afraid of losing what we have, we are paralyzed in fear and anxiety.  Our treasures are slipping through our hands, through time or carelessness or enemies, and we can't stop them.  The townspeople only saw the disruption, they couldn't see the treasures.  They were staring at an old building that needed to be torn down, only they couldn't imagine what might go up in its place.

  When we look at our own hearts, may we trust the God who made them, that the longings for eternity held within them should be heeded.  Tim Keller talks about how we invite God in for lunch, thinking it'll be polite, and then God starts tearing down walls, because the shack we live in will be transformed into a mansion.  If we run in fear at the first sign of disruption, we miss out on the mansion.  But if we stay with the process, and endure the discomfort, we discover the marvelous love of God along the way.