Matthew 9 9-13 2008
Pentecost 4
Matthew 9:9-13
June 8, 2008
“Saving Grace and Grace at Work”
Introduction: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but know I see.” These are beautiful words aren’t they? But what makes them beautiful? As beautiful as these words are, they only come to life when they are sung by the battered, damaged and desperate soul that finally sees it’s long sought after relief. These words, “Amazing grace” take flight as the hopeless find hope, as the blind see the light of day, as the unforgivable are forgiven their sins and as the once dead arise and live again.
Think about it. For the person that has never known hopelessness or desperation, for the person that has never been suffocated by their own sin and it’s consequences, for the person that thinks they are doing just fine without the help of God, “Amazing grace” has no sweet sound because to them, these words have no meaning. But for sinners that recognize their sins… “How sweet the sound is, that saved a wretch like me!”
In the gospel lesson for today, God’s amazing grace walks into the life of Matthew Levi. When Jesus said to him, “Follow Me,” never had there been a sweater sound. In the words, “Follow Me” he heard Amazing grace. You see, this is because Matthew Levi was a sin sick wretch. As we read the text about the call of Matthew, also called Levi, the thought of him as being a wretch is one that comes to mind at first. But it is true, none the less. Maybe we don’t like talking about the gospel writer this way, as if we should put him on a pedestal because he was an apostle of the Lord Jesus. Yet we must talk about him this way. We must talk about ourselves this way. For Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. It is not the righteous that need a Savior but the sinner. So Jesus came to heal Matthew. He does it with these words…”Follow Me!” These are words of “Amazing Grace.”
So what about Matthew? Who was he? Why was he a sinful wreck of a human being? Matthew, writing this gospel, tells us little about himself. He is more concerned that we see and understand who Jesus Christ is. We know he was a tax collector. He collected taxes as an employee of the imperial forces of Rome. Sounds ok, doesn’t it! But think about a Iraqi citizen collecting tax money from fellow Iraqi’s so that money could be sent to the United States. Hmmm, not so good for him, we would think. Well, he was a servant of Caesar a self declared God. As a tax collector he was tainted with shame. I guess we can understand this in our own day. What images come to you when you think about the IRS man? Warm fuzzy feelings…I don’t think so. Rather someone that is out to get your money, one way or another. In Jesus day, the tax collector was considered a vile sinner. HE was considered a traitor. He was lumped in with prostitutes and thieves…even murderers. This was for good reason. They often were thieves that extorted as much money as they could so that their profit margin was as large as possible.
As tax collectors, they did ok for themselves, financially, that is. But there was a price. There always is a price. To live such a life puts a burden on the soul. It sears the conscience. For tax collectors they were ostracized, that is unaccepted by the communities in which they lived. They were hated. Even worse, they were not allowed to worship, to be in the church as it were.
Why would anyone choose such a life for themselves? Some people are quiet happy in there self deceit and they learn to live with lives like this. Some people just fall into the life. Who knows what reasons Matthew, from the priestly tribe of Levi would have had. But I am sure they seemed good to him at the time. Matthew was not happy. Matthew had become a desperate soul trapped beyond his own release. We are not told, and yet it must be true, that Matthew had reached a place in his life that was no longer bearable. His sin was suffocating him. He had reached place of no escape. He was alone and without hope. Then Jesus comes and says “Follow Me”.
Years ago, I was watching an old fashion dance marathon. You know the kind. A bunch of people challenge each other to see who will stay on the dance floor the longest. This particular contest was made up of individual dancers, not couples. These dancers would recruit those that were watching to dance with them. There was this one particularly cute girl on the dance floor. I remember watching her for a while. Secretly I wished that she would ask me to dance. But I knew that this could never happen. Then, unexpectedly she looked in my direction and pointed for someone to join her. Now, I didn’t have a lot of self confidence back then, after all I was only sixteen. So when her finger pointed in my direction I couldn’t believe she was pointing at me. So I looked left to see who she was pointing at. Then I looked right. Then I looked behind. There was nobody on either side, nobody around me. Then, with my extremely quick 16 year old mind, I figured out that she meant me. But by this time, it was too late. She asked someone else to dance. As any sixteen year old I said those eternal words that 16 year olds speak when they have reached a point of frustration AAARRRRGGGG!
Matthew didn’t wait when Jesus asked him to dance. Like an asthmatic waiting for a deep breath, he breathed deep on Jesus Words. Like a death row inmate granted a reprieve, he didn’t wait to leave his cell. When Jesus said, “Follow Me”, we are told, he got up and followed. Luke tells us more…he says he left everything behind. When we think of everything he left behind we are inclined to think of his house and home and wealth. Matthew Levi would describe what he left behind in a different way. Left behind was his hopelessness. Left behind was his desperation. Left behind was his unforgivable sinful past. Left behind was the loneliness of his separation with God. Left behind was a life that was suffocating him, killing him. Ahead of him was only Jesus. Ahead of him was the breath of life found only in Jesus Christ
So Matthew followed Jesus. Where did he follow him to? He followed Him to the cross. There, as the storm clouds of God’s wrath gathered, as the earth shook in disgrace, Matthew saw his salvation. He saw His Savior. He saw his sins taken away and put on Jesus Christ, God’s Son. There at the cross, the amazing grace of God’s love was poured out in the blood of God. On the day when Jesus said “Follow Me”, did he understand these things? No! God’s Spirit enlightened Matthew to all these things after our Lord’s glorious resurrection from the dead.
When Jesus told Matthew to follow him, he didn’t understand the amazing grace of Jesus Christ. Nor did he understand what it would take for the grace to be applied to him. What He did know when he heard those words, Follow Me” was that this grace was his. It made a difference in his life.
Immediately he celebrates. He invites his friends to come and meet Jesus. The best thing that had ever happened in Matthews life had happened and he wanted to share it. So he calls his friends together. Who were his friends? The only ones he could call friends, the only ones that would call him there friend were other tax collectors and yes sinners. Thank God, Jesus is the friend of sinners. He came for soul sick sinners. He came for all, but especially for those people that can understand the words of His Amazing Grace…Follow me…your sins are forgiven…I am the way, the truth and the life.
The girl I was watching on the dance floor eventually looked my way again. When she pointed at me I did not hesitate. I ran up on that dance floor and I began dancing. That’s the rest of the story. That’s when the work really began. I had to get up in front of a bunch of strangers and let them watch me dance. This is no small feat for a shy, bashful 16 year old, but dance I did. I didn’t do it very well, but I did it and I did it with joy.
So the message to Matthew Levi is also our Lord’s message to each one of us here. He says to us, “Follow Me.” We heard his voice when we were baptized…”Follow Me.” We have heard it everyday of our life and especially as we gather together as His church…”Follow me”! We do. It’s not easy and we don’t do it perfectly or well. But by God’s Amazing grace we do it. There is a song that I like quite well called the Lord of the Dance. There are many wonderful verses but one that is appropriate for today is…I danced for the scribe and the scribe and the Pharisee, but they would not dance and they would not follow me; I danced for the fisherman, James and John…they came with me and the dance went on.
Jesus is the friend of sinners. He is the friend of those that have been beaten down by life. He is the friend of those people that have been suffocated by life and yes even by their own decisions. He comes for those that can truly sing the words of Amazing Grace, that know how sweet the sound is of Jesus voice is, when He says “Follow Me.” He come for you and he comes for me…inviting us to dance and to sing. The refrain of the song goes this way. Dance then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the dance said He. And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be. And I’ll lead you all in the dance said He!
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. Amazing words of grace, for Jesus says to you, to me…”Follow Me! By His grace we do! Amen