| June 9, 2002 Hosea 6:3-6 + Romans 4:18-25 + Matthew 9:9-13 |
| True religion involves deep faith in the mercy of God found in love. If you think about the religious experience of people outside the revelation of Jesus Christ, you can’t help but notice the reign of fear, terror, and wrath that marks this kind of religion. The constant work of these religions is to appease or buy-off the anger and punishment of the gods. No matter what culture or age, religion boils down to a matter of fear and punishment. Sacrifices are offered to calm a god who is always too ready to pounce, too anxious to punish, and too ready to pass judgement against the faithful. All of this probably says as much about the culture in which it is found as it does about anything else, but it stands in absolute contrast to what begins to unfold and be revealed by the work of Jesus Christ. |
| Already with the covenant of Abraham something different is unfolding, and the God who reveals himself to and calls Abraham is interested in more than terror and fear, but it takes a long time to work that out, and sometimes it is just easier to make up a god made in our image than realize in ourselves through conversion the image of the God in whose image we are made. |
| What was to come in Jesus Christ had already been the fondest dream of one of history’s most extra ordinary lovers: Hosea. His own life of patient, loving, mercy expressed in prophetic ways what was to come and be revealed in Jesus, the ultimate prophet of mercy. What we finally may discover in what Jesus has revealed is that God has been looking for us while we’ve been playing with our golden calves. It is God who has been looking for the people made in His image in order to make his home among them. |
| This is the story behind the story we tell today in our Gospel: the story of God looking for the people who will reveal the truth about God, the truth about mercy, and the truth about love. As Matthew tells it, he finds one that day, sitting at his post, collecting taxes for the Romans. At first thought, he is an unlikely choice, but that turns out to be the way it will be all through the story. Yet when you consider that Matthew’s call is an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the mission of Jesus, it might not be so unlikely, for who better can teach us about conversion of heart than someone who has himself collaborated with the enemy who offered him security and power and yet found the courage to leave it all behind? That is Matthew He walked away from a lucrative position of power and influence into the arms of mercy He accepted because he was accepted, what Jesus offered him was forgiveness, mercy, and love. The first to know forgiveness, mercy, and love in the New Testament, becomes the first to proclaim it. |
| Jesus does not condone the sins of Matthew, in fact, he calls him away from them. He actively reaches out to him, seeks him, and brings him into fellowship with his followers. In doing so, he shows us the kind of love that overcomes disgrace and separation. This undeserved gift that values a person regardless of what they have done is the meaning of grace. There is no judgement here, there is only mercy There is no punishing God here, there is only Love.With this revelation, the meaning of Hosea’s words, “What God wants is mercy, not sacrifice.” begins to make sense. |
| In the Old Covenant, and in all those other religions of the past, sacrifice was the way to deal with and satisfy God. The problem with sacrifice is that it always degenerates into some form of bribery What starts out to be a token of love ends up being a substitute. What is offered is not the real thing. God has had enough of that. God does not want our tokens. God wants us. That desire on God’s part is what Jesus comes to begin – and what we now come to complete. |
| There is no replacement for love. Those who love us do not want what belongs to us, they want us, not a piece of us, but all of us. The God who went looking for Matthew is still looking and offering us the healing acceptance offered once to Matthew Who better than you and me can show the mercy and share the love we have received without merit? The sacrifice we come here to offer is thegift of mercy, forgiveness, and love we have received. God is not interested in anything else. The instruction of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel is as clear today as it was when he first said the words: “Go and learn what this means. “It is mercy I desire, not sacrifice.” |