I owe thanks to Nancy in Belize for some wise help with this sermon.
Jesus had a mission. Matthew makes that abundantly clear; Jesus taught, healed, died, and rose because he was on a mission. Matthew's Gospel concludes as Jesus sent his followers out to all nations with a mission based in his own.
Our first reading about Abram introduces us to God's call from day one as a people of faith to go out in trust on a mission.
5000 years ago the call was to go
leave behind the things you know
trust
have faith
2000 years ago Jesus came with a mission and he called his followers to join. Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now Jesus invites us to join him in mission.
Jesus mission of healing meant calling all people back to God including "those people" who the religious would call "sinners." Jesus' mission lead him beyond preaching to the spiritually healthy. He came to heal broken spirits and broken bodies. Jesus ate with the tax collectors, traitors who would shake down their own people to help out the Romans. Jesus ate with publicly known sinners who couldn't hide their shameful actions any longer. When they asked why he replied,
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” Matthew 9:12-13.
Jesus had a mission that led him beyond acceptable company. He went to the hurting and sometimes the hurting came to sit with him. If everything is fine, you don't need him, but if you are hurting you can reach for him and be made whole in him again.
So who is at Jesus' table?
The sinners were part of Jesus company. They wanted to be near him. They were part of the crowd who left everything behind to follow Jesus and his friends. These were prostitutes, traitorous tax collectors and others. The “...sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him." Mark 2:15
Jesus mission was to heal. He healed a broken girls body and he healed sick mens' souls. He healed in unexpected places focusing on the health of each person as a whole being. He even healed when a woman suffering from a hemorrhage reached out to touch him. We can debate what caused her suffering. Was it a simple problem that modern medicine could resolve; we don't know. But we know she was hurting and she reached out to Jesus and found healing. Jesus mission led him to meet the contagious, the long suffering, and outraged those who believed they we healthy enough to judge others. Jesus' mission sent him to those people over there who no body else would touch. Jesus' mission led him out of comfort further and further from God.
"The church" has its moments where we try to decide who is in and who is out. But Jesus challenges us. Don't stop her, don't stop him; let them come to me if they are hurting. Jesus was a sinner magnet (thanks Nancy in Belize). He had something that everyone wanted. He came to heal. He knew his mission; he came for the healing of the world. And people in need were drawn to him hoping just to touch him and be healed
Mission is a commonly used phrase in churches today. We have missionaries, we are called to mission work, we have home missions and international missions. A friend said that, "Everything is about mission in the church these days." The challenge is to keep our mission, our work, in line with Christ's mission. We cannot force Christ to do what we would like rather we must shape our lives around his ministry and mission.
The Pharisees didn't like Jesus expanding fellowship. But he had a mission independent of their opinions and authorization. We can't stop Jesus mission; but if we jump on board with him we can and will see healing happen in our own lives and in others.
One woman knew Jesus power and reached out just to grab his garment. One woman wanted that badly to be healed. And she was made whole.
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