Matthew 9:9-13 (2nd Sunday after Pentecost)
St. John, Galveston 6/7/2026
Rev. Alan Taylor
+ In Nomine Jesu +
Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
In this morning’s Gospel reading, we heard about Jesus calling Matthew to be one of His disciples. It was a bit of a scandalous thing for Jesus to call Matthew. Matthew, you see, was a tax collector. As such, he was despised by the Jewish people. There were several reasons for the people’s hatred of tax collectors. For one thing, the tax collector represented the dominance of a foreign power over the people of Israel, in this case, the Roman Empire. They were also considered traitors by the Jewish people because, tax collectors were themselves were Jewish. As such, they were considered traitors to their heritage because they worked on behalf of the Roman government. Finally, tax collectors tended to collect more taxes from people than were due. The extra tax they collected was for their own use. For all these reasons, and perhaps more, tax collectors were despised by the Jewish people.
Again, in this morning’s reading, Jesus calls Matthew to be one of His apostles. For his part, Matthew left everything behind and followed Jesus. He was quite the willing apostle. As if Jesus calling Matthew to be an apostle wasn’t scandalous enough, when they got to Matthew’s house, they were joined there for a meal by other tax collectors and sinners.
What we in this reading from Matthew 9, is an example of Jesus hanging out with the wrong people! Why, He even shared a meal with them! Can you imagine? I mean, this is the sort of situation where people who consider themselves of superior moral quality and greater ethical standards, lean over to whisper in each others ear as they point their accusing finger. Look at Him! Do you see what He’s doing!? Can you believe it!? He’s reclining at table, sharing a meal with these tax collectors and sinners! Oh, the horror of it all! Such is the way the good people of this world view the bad, the worthy view the unworthy
There is an incident recorded elsewhere in the Scriptures where a tax collector and a Pharisee were praying in the Temple. You can find it in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus says, “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you (Jesus said), this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The Pharisees were especially enraged by the situation at Matthew’s house. They asked Jesus’ disciples, “why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” The implication was that He should be eating with people like them, people who are worthy of the kingdom of God. We don’t really know how the disciples would have answered the Pharisees question, because Jesus overheard it and answered it Himself. “Those who are well (He said) have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
I read an article several of years ago that dealt with the question of whether the Church is more like a gymnasium or a hospital? The question was important because it had to do with how we perceive the purpose and the mission of the Church. To carry the analogy a bit further, the question was essentially whether the Church is a place where Christians go to pump themselves up, to tone up their spiritual muscles, if you will, or is it more like a hospital, where people go to be healed of their diseases, and to be restored to life? Some would say that the church is both, and I suppose that answer is fair enough, but Jesus makes it clear in this morning’s Gospel reading that the Church is first and foremost a hospital for the sick and diseased. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came (Jesus says), not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
But therein is the problem for us. People outside of the Church often say, “I don’t go to church because people who go there are all hypocrites.” A hypocrite is someone who believes one thing and does another, right? By that definition and by our own confession, the outsiders analysis of the Church is right. St. Paul said, “the good that I would do, I don’t do, but the very evil that I hate, this is what I do.” And, we too, confess that “we have not loved God with our whole heart and we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves.” And so, we don’t always act according to what we believe. So, as to the claim that the church is made up of hypocrites, the assessment is a pretty good one, except it lacks the essential point of repentance and forgiveness. You see, if we confess our sins, “God, who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.”
People outside of the church looking in, often see Christians as hypocrites. But how do we see ourselves? what about our perspective of ourselves? Sin is, of course, the disease that infects all of us. As the Bible says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We acknowledge that we “deserve God’s temporal and eternal punishment.” It’s for that reason that we flea to Christ, to His grace, His mercy and forgiveness.
I think the question this reading from Matthew 9 poses to us though is, do we see the sins of some people as falling outside of the reach of God’s mercy and grace in Christ Jesus? Are there some who have no right to draw near to Christ and His Church, while others do? Are there those who are so unlike us that they must forever stand on the fringes and never be permitted to enter into the presence of Christ?
Certainly, the answer to those questions is no! All of us come here as sinners who enter into the presence of the Almighty God. All of us confess what we have done and how much we deserve God’s wrath and judgment. It is true, “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Back to the incident in the Temple from Luke’s Gospel, “the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you (Jesus said), this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
In the end, it was Jesus, the One “despised and rejected by men,” who would save those who were also despised and rejected by the good people of this world. And the good people of this world, once humbled, are also graciously gathered under the same umbrella of God’s forgiveness in Christ, to partake of the banquet of the Lamb, with those whom they once so despised.
“O bright, rising Sun, now shine on us
In need of illumination;
Come scatter the shades of sin and death
And shatter their domination.
Be guiding our footsteps on the path
Of peace, in Your presence dawning!”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
+ Soli Deo Gloria +