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.
And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."
In Paul's letter to the Romans he writes: "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (3:23). Every person except for Jesus who has walked and will walk this earth has sinned. Sin is more than just some label on our behaviors or something to blame when we've done wrong. Sin is real, it hurts, it divides and it is not without personal or community consequence. However, one thing sin cannot do, live and thrive within the embrace of the unconditional and all-inclusive love of God in Jesus Christ.
In this Gospel for today, Jesus embraced the sinner, he called the sinner to follow him and even chose to eat with the sinner. More than that, Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector, someone who was an outcast in society and the religious establishment to be one among his first Apostles. The Author of Matthew's Gospel today talks about Matthew and how Jesus did not look so much at what he did, he just invited him to follow and gave him a place at the table along side Jesus. Jesus came and supped with him. Jesus reached beyond social status and reputation and gave to Matthew a place of honor. Matthew was someone who was not among the privileged of his time. Jesus gave Matthew the opportunity to be among God's privileged people. We can read this Gospel and understand that God gives to all of us the opportunity to be known as among God's privileged people.
We need to be very careful about what we do with the Scriptures, because they are written in a time very different from our own. In the movie: "For the Bible Tells Me So" Archbishop Tutu says: "The Bible is the word of God through the words of human beings, speaking in the idiom of their time. The richness of the Bible comes from the fact that we don't take it literally so, as if it was dictated by God."
I really struggled to prepare this particular blog entry today. Mostly because of the New Testament reading form Ephesians 5:1-20 where Paul makes another list of "impurities" that he says will not "inherit the kingdom of God." I have a problem with all of this, because of how the religious right uses such texts to criminalize lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. These texts may appear to speak against not only LGBT individuals but all kinds of sexual impurity. The problem with that interpretation is again, that the time and context in which this text was written is one in which Paul was addressing a sexuality that was "socially uncustomary." Many of the places where Paul had been writing his letters to including Ephesus, sexuality had become part of the temple worship of people. Sexuality had become an idolatry, a replacement for God. In this text as in all the others that are used to criminalize LGBT people, Paul is not speaking to or about loving, committed homosexual relationships. That distinction needs to be made so that we make it very clear, that individuals who are LGBT who are engaged in loving, committed relationships are by no means to be seen or understood as sinners just for physically and emotionally loving their same sex spouse. This is why the news of the Malawi gay couple who has been sentenced to 14 years in Prison and hard labor for announcing their engagement to marry each other, is such a miscarriage of justice.
In J.B. Bernard's book: "An Introduction to the Episcopal Church" he writes:
"This traditional attitude towards sex, based on the Bible, is under strong ethical challenge today. Many modern moral theologians would hold views more or less similar to what follows. Sex is given for our enjoyment and ought to be both creative and integrative, as well as under planned circumstances for the procreation of children. Although a sexual act as such is not of itself sinful, it can become so by the circumstances accompanying it; and also by an obsession with it which shuts out God and the greater welfare of the community. Masturbation is not a sin and in moderation not at all harmful. Heterosexual intercourse between unmarried persons (fornication), with mutual consent and proper precautions against procreation and disease, is a private matter. This applies also to homosexual intercourse between mature consentient persons. Homosexuality itself is neither a sin nor a disease, but a condition for which the person himself is in no way responsible.
In all sexual actions a Christian is required to be loving, and to treat others as persons, and not to use them as things, to regard them as ends, and not means. This is particularly so within the marriage bond. A Christian should dedicate his or her sexuality, as well as his or her personality, to the guidance and keeping of God." (Pages 73 and 74).
I have written all of this to comfort myself and perhaps others who might read Paul's letter today, and even the Gospel and find themselves a bit troubled. Having written that, it is also important to recognize that although homosexuality in and of itself is not a sin, it can become sinful when and if those of us who are, should use another person for our own selfish desires, with no respect that she or he is a child of God. The really good news is that if we have found ourselves in a place where we have sinned, either by seeking to exclude LGBT people from the Church or society, or if we have failed to use the gift of our sexuality in a good way, God has come in Jesus Christ to tell us that we have been forgiven. Jesus took upon himself the sin of all, and in his resurrection has offered all of us the opportunity to begin a new in Christ. When we were baptized, we shared in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and we were made Christ's redeemed people.
What else is good news today? God calls people who are sinners to dine with Jesus and to serve in the Church. Every lay person, Bishop, Priest and Deacon all four orders of ministry in the Church, are sinners who have been called by Christ to serve and be served with in Christ's holy Body. God knows more than we do, that we are people who sin. God knows that we need the help of the Holy Spirit to grow into people who love and accept others. The Holy Spirit came on Pentecost Day, to help us to know what Jesus taught those first Apostles. All through the book of Acts, we see that God had to work on the hearts and minds of Peter and Paul and all in the early Church to see beyond where they were at that point in time, to become a more inclusive. The Holy Spirit is still calling the Church of our present time to recognize that we are all sinners, and that we are all loved by God. The Holy Spirit, whom God sent came to help us through the use of Scripture, Tradition and Reason to know that the Church and all of it's members are the Body of Christ, growing and understanding and never standing still, but constantly renewing within itself the ministry of radical hospitality, reconciliation and healing. The very fact that we are sinful people, means that God is not finished with us. Our loving and merciful God wants to help us become more welcoming and inclusive. In the Eucharist, Jesus comes to sup with us, and help us to be nourished as Christ's Body. Thanks be to God, God is not finished with us yet.
Alleluia! Bread of Heaven, thou on earth our food, our stay!
Alleluia! here the sinful flee to the from day to day:
Intercessor, friend of sinners, earth's Redeemer plead for me,
Where the songs of all the sinless sweep across the crystal sea.
(Verse 3 of Hymn #460 in the 1982 Hymnal)
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (Collect for the Seventh Sunday of Easter: The Sunday after Ascension Day, Book of Common Prayer, Page 226).
Gracious Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen. (Prayer for the Church, Book of Common Prayer, Page 816).
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