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S. Pentecost 2.26 Matt. 9:9-13

‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’

There’s only 2 kinds of people in the world: people who hate it that Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners, and people who love it. And honestly: which kind you are will have a great impact on your life, now and forever… 😉

You might think I’m going to say that the people who love it that Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners are all regular church-goers, and the people who hate it aren’t.

But I’m not going to say that; because I don’t think it’s true—at least it hasn’t been in my experience. Plus, I’ve read the scriptures a few times through and I notice—especially in the Gospels!—that the ones who hate it the most that Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners were actually the most staunch church-goers of all—i.e.: the Pharisees. And the people who love it the most that Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners (i.e. hedge fund managers and hookers!—amongst other unsavory characters 😉 do not seem to be regulars in the synagogue, having long before been kicked out, most of them… 😉

Conversely, I’ve had a goodly number off parishioners who hate it that Jesus eats with hedge fund managers and hookers and are very glad he doesn’t do stuff like that anymore—so that when I suggest he might still do that, maybe a lot?, like maybe every Sunday, there’s a tendency to “shoot the messenger” especially if I’m not not clearing out the riff-raff, but welcoming them in—like we are happy always to squeeze in one more hypocrite!

Now, don’t get me wrong: I can make elbow room in the pews of any congregation quicker than you can say “Jack Rabbit!”. Numerical growth has never been a hallmark of my ministry. But I’ve found over 34 years that it tends to be the ones who really hate it that Jesus eats with hedge fund managers and hookers who quickly come to see how beautiful a spoken contemporary worship service can be—such as the neighboring churches offer (with nicer pastors and small group ministries 😉 and find their way in goodly numbers to the door of parishes I’ve served.

My moto is “the rite [r-i-t-e] crowd and no crowding.” 😉

It’s always puzzled me why congregations are so obsessed with getting more members? Do you want your doctor’s office to have more patients so that he has little time for you and you have to wait a long time for an appointment? OK. So why do want your church jammed? I used to think getting more members in the pews was about getting more money so the church can operate better.

But I’ve noticed the largest congregations basically buy members with huge buildings, praise bands, coffee shops, schools, programs for every whim, designed to draw the masses and are usually in debt up to their ears to do that! So if it isn’t for the money what’s it for?

Doing this pastor gig for a few decades, I’ve come to realize that Christendom strongly prefers to have congregations filled with large numbers of good people (just like us! 😉 in order to validate our goodness—as if truth is guaranteed by large numbers of adherents—like a couple billion Roman Catholics can’t be wrong!—even if so much of their official teaching is obviously opposed to holy scriptures’…

Our own Synod seems far more concerned about signaling how virtuous we are by being super intolerant of abortion, homosexuality, divorce, pacifism—and anything that smacks of socialism—than it is about revelling in the love Jesus has for tax collectors and sinners like us. Does it ever seem a little weird to you that Christians staunchly defending the “Right to Life” often defend the right to “bear arms” even more vigorously?

Probably Jesus doesn’t really mean all that stuff about turning the other cheek, I guess? That’s probably a METAPHOR for… something?

Like we’re supposed to just trust GOD to take care of us all the time?—believe angel armies always surround us as they did Elisha, and if we DIE! we’ll count ourselves happy to get to Heaven quicker and we’d say of the people gunning us down: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them?” and “Father forgive them, they know not what they do?” Crazy talk, right?

Well…

They killed Jesus for a reason, you know: and the reason given was his eating with tax collectors and sinners, forgiving them (like he’s GOD or something!) loving them and promising we all have a place, TODAY! in Paradise with him regardless of what we’ve been or done… !!!

I’ve had more than a few church outsiders (surprised to discover I’m actually a pastor 😉 tell me: “Oh, the church doesn’t have a place for someone like me. I’m too bad and too hardly sorry for it. Still; I do love Jesus; he seems really… cool.”

I often wonder how many people shy away from Institutional Christendom BECAUSE they love Jesus?

You know, Jesus calls Matthew to be an Apostle not because he’s GOOD PERSON, but because he’s bad and knows he needs a Savior who hangs with and for… SINNERS! You know the house whose table Jesus reclines at is MATTHEW’S house, right?! The riff-raff in his house are his besties! Turns out: bad boys like Matthew make surprisingly good pastors! This Gospel he wrote is pretty cool, right?—in a beatnik sort of way, of course… 🙂

Luther spoke wisdom and truth when he said “The Church is hidden; the saints known only to God…” I wonder with Luther, some days, if there aren’t more lovers of Jesus OUTSIDE the walls of Institutional Christendom than within them? And if that’s true, what does our relationship to Christendom look like?

Like being in a round room and told to sit in the corner?

The church is a great mystery to me. I have no idea who’s in or out. But I do know this: those who are well have no need of a Physician, but those who are sick. And being sick unto death, myself, I know what this means: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”.

It means Jesus comes not to call the righteous, but sinners like me, you and Matthew! I need Jesus. He doesn’t need me. There’s not a damn thing I can do for him but stink up the joint whenever I’m in the House!

It’s why we burn incense in his House, you know—to cover the stink of our sins!

There’s only 2 kinds of people: those who hate it that Jesus hangs with sinners and those who luuuv it—there’s a tiny little Pharisee living inside you, inside me who hates it, and a poor miserable sinner who loves it because Jesus can fix you like he fixed Matthew… 😉

By proclaiming “Your sins are forgiven; follow me…” By making his House our home, teaching and eating with us, feeding us the Bread of Heaven, his very Body that makes us one with him, chasing it with his blood that takes away the sin of the world, so that…

Peace, surpassing understanding, guards your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.