St. Matthew - 2014 - G - Jesus Comes Only For Sinners

The Festival of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist

September 21, 2014- Pastor Adam Moline

Ezekiel 2:8-3:11          Ephesians 4:7-16         Matthew 9:9-13

Hymns LSB 611, 518, 730   Communion Hymns LSB 743, 617, 596, 594
Sermon Audio Found Here

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is from the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Today is St. Matthew the apostle day, the day we remember that great tax collector turned saint.  And yet today, as we remember St. Matthew, we remember more the many great things that Jesus did for him than we do him at all.  We think of Jesus, not the sinner, not the martyr, not the tax collector at all.  Just Jesus. 

St. Matthew the Tax collector.  What do you think of when you hear the words, “Tax collector?”  I’m guessing that there are few words that you despise more, except maybe “Audit” and “IRS” and taxes due.  We do not love the taxman’s excessive need to take our money from us at ever increasing rates.  We are fine when someone else pays taxes, but we hate our own. 

The same thing was true back in Jesus day.  Tax collectors were thought of as thieves, as liars, and what’s worse, they worked for the occupying Roman army, sending their money on to the Caesar’s.  What’s more, these tax collectors made their living by collecting extra taxes which went right into their own pockets.  They were hated by the average person, thought of as “less than human” and more sinful than the average person. 

And so they were avoided by people.  They were treated badly.  They were sinners, and all knew it.  Tax collectors like Matthew had few friends, and were some of the outcasts of their time.  And it is to this tax collector Matthew that Jesus calls today, “Follow me.”  All the others in town ask questions?  How can Jesus eat with Sinners or tax collectors like Matthew?  How can Jesus interact with such a terrible person as Matthew, who betrayed his own people for a bit of money?

Dear friends, Jesus answers that question in our lesson.  He comes for sinners.  Jesus comes only for sinners, not for the healthy.  Just a doctor does, he comes only for those who are sick and weak and do what is wrong.  Not for those who are healthy. 

So dear friends, what are you?  What do you think about yourself?  Do you have everything together.  Do you always do what is right?  Are you a healthy normal, human being, or are you a sinner?  Are you upright, or are you down right sinful? 

Be honest, dear friends.  Look at your life, you are sinful.  There is no way around it.  You don’t do what’s right.  You sin in thought word and deed.  You hate, you murder, you lie.  You even sin the same way Matthew did.  In fact, we love money more than a tax collector, don’t we?  Which is why you are so afraid to give it up to taxes or to the offering plate, or to help a person on the street.  You love the power that we feel when we use money to benefit ourselves.  We love money itself – it becomes an idol for us. 

And what’s more, dear friend, we also are guilty in the same way as the Pharisees in our text.  We judge people as worse then us, as more sinful than us, as terrible horrible no good very bad people.  And we take great pride in these judgments, because they mean we can sleep a little easier at night knowing at least there’s someone sicker than us. 

Dear friends, repent of your sin.  Turn aside from you idolatry and your pride.  Admit how sick you are, sick enough that you will one day die from your sin.  And in your illness, heed the call of the great physician Jesus, just as Matthew did. 

Jesus came for the sick.  Jesus came for the weak.  So be weak, be sick, and receive his mercy and his care.  Jesus came for those who are dying, and in sin you are dying, so let him be your Hospice doctor, caring for you in your final days.  Because dear friends, as you die from sin, there is no better doctor than Jesus. 

For Jesus has already been through death.  Yes, all the way through, he suffered as we suffer, he bled, as we bleed, and he died, nailed to a cross, so that when we die, it shall not be our end.  For Jesus went through death, all the way through.  He rose again on the third day, promising eternal life to all those for whom he’d care.  He rose, promising to take with him, all who died with him.  That promise was made to all the sick, all the sinners, all the liars, the murderers and the cheat.  That promise was made, dear friends, even to you. 

Yes, your sin, your pride, your guilt and all the rest of your sickness is healed by Jesus crucified and risen.  Just as he saved poor sinful tax collector Matthew, so too will he save you.  It is his promise, it is the hope that we have in his name.  It is the truth in which we believe. 

Dear friends, Jesus came for the sick.  Admit your sin, admit the sickness is causes you, and be saved by the grace offered in his Holy and precious name.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.