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The Third Sunday after Pentecost – June 5, 2005 Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Are you like me and you notice when things are done out of order? It seems really strange today that in the gospel lesson when Jesus is teaching at a dinner he interrupts things to go to the bedside of a dying child and his trip is interrupted by the healing of a woman who had hemorrhages for twelve years. Talk about things out of order…teaching…to healing…to lifting a child to life once again. Odd?
Trying to get a handle on what is happening in the gospel lesson I returned to the words of our Lord: “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
This is a bit of a testy saying. I wonder what Jesus means “…mercy, not sacrifice.” You would think that Jesus would be encouraging everyone to make a sacrifice. We suggest sacrifice, don’t we? I think we especially do when encouraging good stewardship.
You know what I am talking about. It happens each fall in almost every church. Suddenly the Stewardship Committee comes to life and through a long and involved process asks for your pledge commitment for the next year.
Everything is fine until someone figures they are being asked to “sacrifice.” That is, they get the drift that stewardship is the management of all we have been given by God so that sacrifice is fitting. Like allergies in spring, these folks suddenly start reacting to the idea that somehow they will have to carry the congregation for the next year.
The truth is no one is asked to “carry” the congregation by themselves. In fact, no one is asked to sacrifice. Stewardship is your prayerful and thoughtful response to what God has given you. It is a time for generosity in thanksgiving to God. Stewardship is giving the gift, whether it is monetary, time or talent, with joy and thanksgiving. Stewardship is setting aside proportional first fruits, what we commonly call a tithe.
I am reminded of the old joke about the hen and the pig. One day the hen notices how hard the farmer is working harvesting his crops. She suggests to the pig they give the hard working farmer a surprise breakfast in the morning. She says, “I’ll provide the eggs and you can provide the bacon.” The pig replies, “For you that is a contribution, for me it is a sacrifice.”
Good stewardship does not ask for you to do it all yourself. It is a partnership in the gospel with all believers.
God is not expecting you to deny yourself for the sake of others. While that is not a bad idea, such sacrifice can become the worst of works righteousness; those times when we turn giving into our bargain with God. “God,” we say, “I’ll make this big sacrifice, give a gift and you will love me.”
Such a bargain with God is sin at its best. It is sin because it ignores the mercy of God. For God has so loved you that God has made the sacrifice that ended our need to make sacrifices on the altar. On the cross God gave himself in Jesus that we would no longer need to work a ‘deal’ of some kind and make a sacrifice to curry God’s favor.
It is in the cross that the mercy of God does sacrifice so completely that our lives are transformed. We are given a future in the kingdom with Jesus that begins now and lasts forever.
You can see this mercy of God in Jesus by looking at the two picture stories in the gospel lesson today.
First, Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners. He is eating with the dregs of his society. In the midst of dinner he is teaching the Pharisees who have taken a position that they are OK because they do sacrifice right. Jesus challenges them with his clear rebuke that mercy is what God is about, not their ‘bargaining.’
In the midst of this scene enters a very distraught father. His daughter has just died. He needs Jesus to raise her. Jesus interrupts what he is doing and begins his journey to the girl. He lets mercy, compassionate love; draw him away from dinner to the bedside of the synagogue leader’s daughter.
It is during his journey that a woman touches his clothing and is healed from a hemorrhage that has plagued her for twelve years. It seems her faith has made her well. In the midst of being merciful, Jesus shows mercy to this woman. Then he continues to the girl, lifts her from what was considered her death bed and shows mercy to both her and her father.
Two picture stories clearly showing God is about mercy.
These two stories portray a clear picture of what God is doing for you in the cross. It is there in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus you are given life and eternally healed of all that would separate you from God and one another.
I wonder if you as firm believers in the cross would desire to do as God does and show mercy? Jesus shows mercy today. Are we also called to be merciful? I wonder.
It is a tough challenge. We want to do sacrifice. We want to control whether God loves us. Our calling, though, like the call to Matthew today, is perhaps to mercy.
I wonder if we show our true colors in our stewardship. Could our generosity or lack of it tell if the mercy of God is sufficient for us? Is the cross enough? Perhaps only our stewardship will tell. Amen.
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