Unexpected Outcomes

There is a story about a guy who was investigating churches, looking for a welcoming one. What he did was he shaved his head, dyed it bright orange and dyed it into a mohawk. Then he put a bunch of fake tattoos on. Then he went visiting churches. 

You can imagine the reception. In most instances when he arrived at a church they asked if they could help him? Take note of that, they asked if they could help him. 

What he wanted to say is “I’m looking for a church to call home.” What he usually said when asked if he needed help was, “Can you tell me where the closest Walmart is.”

And so it goes, until he comes to this one church. Middle of nowhere. He walks in and two little old ladies greet him. They say to him, “Young man your hair is on fire!” Then they welcome him in, they say go on into the sanctuary and worship. They don’t ask if he needs help, they assume he’s where he’s supposed to be. 

After worship they find him and they say, “Come on down to the hall, get some food.” So he eats and then as he’s leaving he sees the two old ladies again and they ask him, “Do you like pie?” 

He replies, “Yes, he likes pie.”

“What kind of pie do you like”

“Blueberry, apple, I like apple” he says.

“Great” the ladies reply. Next week she’s going to make you a pie and I’m going to make you a pie and you can tell us which one you like best. 

So he goes home. Washes out his hair, removes the tattoos, cleans up good and the next week he goes back. Same two ladies at the door and they look at him and then they say, “We liked you how you were, but we’ll take you how you are.” (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dGkY9EDZQec)

What a wonderful story of welcome and inclusion. It’s the kind of place we want to go to church. It’s the type of place we hope this community of faith is. A place where people are welcomed and loved. A place where Jesus is known and the values of God’s kingdom are lived out. I think we do a pretty good job, as with scripture there is always more going on. Layers of the onion to peel back. 

This passage from Matthew is all about how we live out the values of the kingdom. It is embedded in a larger section of Matthew that deals with healing narratives. Our reading today deals with themes of purity, sacrifice and inclusion. I would also suggest to you, that if you look underneath the hood you will find that trusting in Jesus can often lead to unexpected outcomes. 

In some ways it doesn’t feel like our two passages really work together. What does Jesus eating with tax collectors and Jesus healing two women have to do with one another? Glad you asked.

This is the passage that tells us that Jesus broke bread with tax collectors and sinners. We have a negative connotation to this passage one because some of the people were sinners. We don’t like to think of ourselves as sinners. We read this passage from the vantage of being the good guys, being perfect. We don’t like tax collectors, because maybe we moan and complain about paying taxes. Even though we benefit from them in the form of health care and education. So Jesus is eating with these people. Not perfect people, not even people that everyone liked. Yet, Jesus broke bread with them and called one of them to be a disciple. 

What we need to understand is that tax collectors were seen as collaborators of the Roman occupation. They often enriched themselves at the expense of the poor. They abandoned their fellow citizens to serve those who were occupying the land. 

The Pharisees make the complaint about the actions of Jesus, but their motives should be examined. The Pharisees kept strict standards, while their objection may have had moral or political aspects to it, it is just as likely that they were concerned with issues of ritual purity. Tax collectors were considered ritually unclean. That means that Jesus by breaking bread with them, is making himself ritually unclean.

Now the whole passage, the key to understanding everything in our readings today are the words that Jesus speaks on the topic of mercy and sacrifice. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

We should also note that in this passage Jesus is not the one offering hospitality. He doesn’t invite the tax collectors to lunch, they invite him. He accepts the invitation. 

Andrew McGowan Dean of Yale Divinity School writes, “The fact that Jesus is receiving hospitality and willing to eat at the tables of these dubious others is important to understanding both the complaints of the Pharisees and his own mission. Scrupulous, observant Jewish diners would have been concerned about receiving food or drink from those liable to be impure because their own ritual status would be at risk. It was not problematic in the same way to share one’s own (pure) food. So it is Jesus’ acceptance of dubious hospitality, not offering it, that earns the criticism. In the Pharisees’ eyes Jesus was dicing with his own ritual purity by socializing with those who had proven to be permanent enemies of God.”

Danny Zacharias, Associated Dean and Professor New Testament Studies at Acadia Divinity College adds to this. He writes, “As an Indigenous Christian, I see resonance with Indigenous spirituality. Indigenous practice often prioritizes relational healing over ritual correctness.” Being relational and engaged with the community leads to healing and positive outcomes, versus strict adherence to the law. It’s a question of inclusion versus exclusion. 

The next two healing stories are linked to this passage because they also deal with ritual purity. But we should notice the difference between the two. The synagogue leader is public and proud. He approaches Jesus and asks for help. The woman who is bleeding, hides in her shame and seeks to be unnoticed. She was probably terrified that Jesus turned and spoke to her. Though their social status was vastly different, yet Jesus makes no distinction between them. He treats them as equals. 

The woman who is bleeding is experiencing pain from her condition. What should have been temporary, menstrual bleeding has become permanent causing pain and discomfort. While she is not an outcast, she is experiencing religious exclusion. By touching Jesus she makes him ritual impure. However, Jesus says to her your faith has made you well. 

The girl who is dead is an invitation for mercy. Touching a corpse made you ritually impure. Are you sensing the theme here? However, caring for a deceased family member is a necessary aspect of life. Jesus, who does not need to touch the corpse, does so anyway when he takes her hand.

Here is where we need to be careful. It is too easy for us to say that laws of ritual purity should be cast aside as harmful. For us as modern readers to say these laws are unhelpful and wrong. It would also be incorrect for us to say that Jesus opposed these laws of ritual purity. Jesus never says that, not here or anywhere else. We need to be careful that our reading of this passage and our interpretation of the actions of Jesus don’t lead us to anti-Judaic or antisemitic way of thinking. 

What Jesus does is offer healing and mercy which allows the two women to return to full inclusion in society. Jesus isn’t saying purity laws are wrong. Go back to his words while having a meal with the tax collectors. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Jesus isn’t opposed to purity laws, he is opposed to their application. Jesus offers mercy, does not seek sacrifice from others, but rather becomes the sacrifice himself.

Returning to McGowan he puts it this way, “Mercy is required more than sacrifice, but it enables sacrifice.”

These passages in Matthew raise interesting questions about oppression, inclusion and justice. How can we release those who are feeling oppression, what systems might need to be dismantled? How do we include others who society has shunned?

Returning to Danny Zacharias, he asks, “… I want to also suggest that we need to use our sanctified imaginations to see ourselves within the other characters in these stories. After all, life is not easy. We continue to need the healing work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, in both body and soul. 

“And for those of us who live in North America, we must reckon with the fact that we may be the tax collectors of our society, profiting off current and past injustices, and globally speaking, we occupy the richest sectors of society.” 

The practices of Jesus annoy the Pharisees and his eating with the tax collectors might also annoy modern readers who are concerned with issues of justice. When we put ourselves in the different shoes of the characters in these passages, we may feel uncomfortable and out of sorts. Hold on to that feeling and examine why you feel that way.

Remember that Jesus isn’t indifferent to the evil of the tax collectors and sinners he is having a meal with. He eats with them as an opportunity for mercy and love to transform lives. If we don’t bring love and mercy into situations of evil, then how do love and mercy take root and grow?

God doesn’t give up on hopeless causes and neither should we. Matthew, the tax collector, decides to follow Jesus and become a disciple. Jesus enters a situation which makes him ritually impure, Jesus sacrifices himself, to offer mercy. He does it again with the woman who is bleeding and again with the dead girl. Jesus opposes oppression and offers liberation. Following Jesus, trusting Jesus leads to unexpected outcomes. Jesus offers God’s mercy and opens the door for all to be accepted and welcomed into the community. 

Remember those two old ladies at the church? “We liked you how you were, but we’ll take you how you are.”

That’s the approach that Jesus takes in this passage and it leads to lives transformed and unexpected possibilities. Amen.