Pentecost 4
Year A
June 8, 2008
Hosea 5:15-6:6
Romans 4:13-25
Matthew 9:9-13, 28-26
Patty had stopped coming to church.
I called on her, hoping to find out what was going on. She sat in her small, unkempt apartment and wept. “I really miss going to church, but I just can’t go.”
“Why not?” I asked.
She confessed that she had been fired from two consecutive jobs. She was having serious financial troubles. Bills were piling up. She had seen a lawyer about bankruptcy.
“If people knew…” She said. “…they would know what kind of person I really am…” She sobbed, “…they wouldn’t want me.”
Somehow, some people get it into their heads that churches are just for the righteous. For people who have it all together. For people with deep faith and an active devotional life.
But, that’s not true at all!
Churches are not supposed to be clubhouses for saints.
They are meant to be hospitals for sinners.
Churches are meant to be houses of mercy, forgiveness and second chances.
And that’s why they need to be as welcoming as possible, and as open as they can be to anyone who comes through the doors.
Like hospitals treat those who are physically or emotionally ill, churches are supposed to care for the spiritually sick. The spiritually broken.
And how can we do that if people don’t come? And why would people come if they don’t feel truly welcome here – just as they are, with all their problems, and questions, and doubts and baggage?
And why wouldn’t we welcome sinners?
After all, aren’t we all sinners? Aren’t we all broken people? People who need to work on our less-than-perfect relationships with God and with one another.
Yes. Churches are for sinners. For sinners like Patty. For people like us. For people like Matthew, the tax collector.
Anyone who has read even a little of the Gospels knows that Jesus had a habit of hanging out with riff-raff, with those on the fringes of society, with the rejects and the reprobates.
Tax collectors and prostitutes found a place at Jesus’ table, while religious scholars, priests and the well-to-do often walked away shaking their heads.
And the scriptures make it clear that Jesus wants us to follow his example.
But, I wonder, do we really take that example seriously? Are we, as a congregation, serious about welcoming even those who are on the fringes of our society? Rejects? Reprobates?
Maybe we need to think a minute about who the tax collectors and sinners are in our own day. Just who should we be welcoming if we are to truly be a hospital for sinners and not just a clubhouse for saints?
This is not always so easy. I mean, it’s one thing to say we welcome everyone. It’s quite another to actually do it.
For example: What would happen if, say, a sex offender did his time in prison, became a Christian, got out, and then decided to come to worship here?
That would raise all kinds of hard questions! Wouldn’t it? Would we welcome him?
Do you think Jesus would welcome him? I don’t know about you… but I think Jesus would.
What about other ex-cons?
Or how about a gay or lesbian couple?
Of course our church is still debating whether or not it’s a sin for people to live in a committed gay or lesbian relationship, and I know there are people here on both sides of that issue.
But, if a such a couple were to visit us, would we invite them to sit down and eat with us? Would Jesus? Again, based on what I read in the scriptures, I think he would.
Of course, usually, the new-comers who come to us aren’t nearly that controversial. And yet, they can challenge us all the same.
They may not be tax collectors or heinous sinners… just different than we are.
Of course, we’re all sinners. It’s just that, from our human perspective some sins are a lot harder to get past than others. But, to God, a sin is a sin.
So, how do we welcome these no-so-heinous sinners, who may just look at things a little different than we do…
The early church struggled with this too. As Peter and Paul began bringing Gentiles into the church, the question came up: do they have to become like us first? That is: Do they have to follow all the Jewish laws and customs?
The decision was that they didn’t.
As long as they had faith in Jesus, they were welcomed. And the church was forever changed because of the unique perspectives and gifts that they brought with them.
That’s still an issue today, as we think about how we reach out to those who need to hear the Gospel. As we reach out to broken people, seekers and searchers of our world.
Just one example of how challenging this can be:
Most of us, I think, agree, that we would like to see more young families join our congregation.
Yes?
But, young families often come with young children. And young children are sometimes noisy, and today’s parents don’t always choose to parent their kids the same way you do (or did) . And that can be a challenge.
Personally, I don’t mind a little kid-noise. In fact, I think it’s a sign of life in a congregation!
I know it can be distracting, but it’s way better than not having young families in church! To me, having kids around is a sure sign that the next generation of Christians is present and accounted for. And that’s a good thing.
You know, the more welcoming we become, the more likely it is that people are going to join us who have new ideas, and different habits, practices and priorities.
But the way to respond to that challenge is not to insist that everyone become like us, any more than the answer to the “Gentile problem” was to make them all Jews!
But, the more open we are to welcoming those who are different than we are – or just at a different place in their lives – the more we open ourselves to being changed by them.
And I am convinced that’s the way God works to move us forward.
And when God is really working, somehow it always manages to make God’s people uncomfortable, and sometimes even a little angry.
Just ask the Pharisees.
Just ask the people of Hosea’s time.
But in spite of the challenge, in spite of the discomfort, we need to make room at the table for all people, following the example of our Lord. For tax collectors and outcasts, for those rejected by the world and those on the fringes of society, for the old and the young, for the new-comer and the long-time member.
Churches are meant to be hospitals for sinners. For all sinners. For sinners like you, and for me, and for everyone God sends our way.
And that won’t always be easy. But it is possible. And it’s good.
Because it’s what God wants for God’s church, and with God’s help and the power of the Spirit it can be done, in Jesus’ name,
Amen.