So what's wrong with tax collectors? What's the big deal? What's the problem?
Seriously!
Throughout Matthew's Gospel, we hear the phrase "tax collectors and sinners" over and over again...just as we hear the phrase "the Law and the Prophets" recited over and over again. It almost becomes cliché — hackneyed to the point that we miss the point. Tax collectors and sinners. Are they the same? Tax collectors... Are these the same people who work for the IRS today or who work in large firms or as independent CPAs? We have a few of them here at Colonial. Should we be leery? Hmmm....
In first century Palestine, tax collectors were a sordid bunch. They were often Jews who worked for the Roman government. That was the first strike against them. They collected large tributes for the oppressor. What is worse, they extracted more than was due and kept it for themselves. They were notorious for threatening and strong-arming people into paying more than they needed to. In sum, they were extortionists. Kind of like a first century Palestinian Sopranos. Suffice it to say, they were not a lovable or popular group of people among their fellow Jews.
Matthew was a tax collector. Jesus not only called him to be one of his Apostles, but he was often seen eating and conversing with such people. You cannot imagine the shock waves this sent among the other rabbis. "Check out this Jesus character! He enters the homes of tax collectors and eats with them. What is he thinking?" During Jesus' day that would have been considered utterly taboo. And what was Jesus' response? "I came not to heal the healthy, but the sick." These are the people who needed Jesus the most. "Those who are well have no need of a physician."
I get an absolute kick out of people who have an aversion to church, because they feel it is filled with hypocrites. "I don't go to church," they say. "It is filled with people who act so pious for one hour on Sunday morning, and then the minute they leave they gossip and slander. They backstab their neighbors and think only of themselves for the rest of the week. Why would I want to be part of a group like that?" To some extent that is true. There are a lot of people who attend churches who behave rather unChristian when they are not in worship, but, as a friend of mine who is a priest in wont to say, "The church is not a museum for saints; it is a hospital for sinners."
Those who look through stained-glass windows from the outside get a skewed vision of the people they see on the inside. The vision they have is tainted...colored with glorious hews. Through stained-glass windows, the people in the pews often look like saints themselves. They are far from it. The people in the pews are broken individuals just like everybody else. This is what it is to be human. We are a broken creation. We fall far short of the shalom, the peaceful co-existence of selfless and reciprocal love, support, and care for which God created us. We're working on it, but we are far from reaching the goal...which is one of the reasons why we need the Christ to walk with us — to enter our proverbial homes (so to speak) and eat with us, to show us what the realm of God is truly like.
Which brings me to our spiritual home: Colonial. As I mentioned last week, we often romanticize the stories in the Scriptures, especially the stories of Jesus. We forget how scandalous they were to the people who first heard them or the people who they were about. Again, the whole tax collector thing — it does not have the same impact on us as it would on first century Jews. Tax collectors were the bottom of the barrel people. For Jesus to break bread with them was unconscionable.
How would we set that story in a contemporary context so that it would have the same effect?
What if a homeless family started attending Colonial — a family that did not dress as nicely as most of us do, a family that did not bathe regularly, a family that chose not to sit in the back of the sanctuary, but, rather, right up in the front? What would the reaction be? Granted, such people are not sinners because they are homeless, but they certainly do not fit the norm. (People would start talking, believe me.)
Let's talk about sin then.
What if a prostitute or a couple of prostitutes starting attending our church? What would the reaction be? My guess would be that there would be all kinds of rumblings. "What are they doing here?" "What influence are they going to have on our children?"
It gets better.
Last year, a United Church of Christ congregation in California had their extravagant welcome mantra put to the test. You may remember this story. This is the congregation that a registered sex offender sought to join. It wasn't easy for this congregation. The church was divided over the issue and eventually brought it to a vote. To make a long story short, the congregation voted to allow the man to become a member of their church — however, he would never be allowed to have interaction with children and would have to be escorted by another adult male member at all times.
This story sparked a national debate. Is everyone welcome in church? In his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, but apparently there are things we can do that can separate us from the love of the church — at least many of us feel so. Maybe it boils down to the question I asked last week. WWJD: What Would Jesus Do? Oh, right! We do not know what Jesus would do, but we do know what Jesus did.
Although we do not equate registered sex offenders with tax collectors, sinners, and prostitutes — the group of destitute characters that we hear about time and time again in the Gospels — I can assure you that they would have been on par with these folks in Jesus' day. And yet, these are the people that Jesus visited, broke bread with, and ministered to.
Why?
"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."
And furthermore — I find it a bit self-righteous for us to presume that we are not in need of the divine physician ourselves!
No, we may not be extortionists, prostitutes, or sex offenders (who knows, maybe some of us are), but we are sinners just the same. We do not like to use that term, but it is true. As our Book of Worship so eloquently declares, we sin by the things we do and by the things we leave undone. We sin when we fail to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbors as we love ourselves, as Jesus commanded us. We sin when we turn a blind eye to injustices that unfold in our community or halfway around the world and tell ourselves, "Well, it's not my responsibility." Yes we do the best we can, but that does not change the fact that indeed we are a broken creation. We, too, need the church. We, too, need the love of Christ.
After saying that he came to heal the sick not the well, Jesus said, "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy not sacrifice.'"
Instead of sacrificing one another or even ourselves by being too judgmental, let us extend the mercy that is inherent with being part of a community of grace. Let us not only attend the church, rather, let us be the church — a place where healing and wholeness is available for all who seek entry into this place...even us. Amen.
©2008 by Rev. John Tamilio III. All rights reserved.