Loring: In the passage from Matthew, Jesus seemed to surround himself with outsiders. The Pharisees…
Jacob: Wait, Dad, stop for a second. I was reading a book on sermons, and it said that a good sermon has three points, and that we should start out by telling the congregation what our three points are going to be.
Loring: Oh, OK. The first point has to do with - Insiders vs. Outsiders. There will always be “outsiders” in humanity – the job of a faithful people is to know and live the belief that we are all “insiders” in God’s love.
Jacob: That’s good. The second point is Rules vs. Faith. Faith always wins! Where the “rules” are wrong, or there are no rules, faith should be our guide.
Loring: Good, and the third point is God meets you where you are…not where you believe God is or where you believe God wants you to be. Can we go back and start on the first point now?
Jacob: Let’s go!
Loring: In the passage from Matthew, Jesus seemed to surround himself with outsiders. The Pharisees, who embody the very sense of needing to be on the inside, are amazed and shocked at the very thought of hanging out with undesirables. They can’t understand why he doesn’t want to be on the inside with them. The word Pharisee comes from the Hebrew “parush,” meaning "separated", that is, one who is separated for a life of purity. Each of the characters in this passage is not accepted by the Pharisees, but they are still accepted by Jesus. The Pharisees have their own clique: they eat together, they talk together, they even gossip together about the people they are better than.
Jacob: At my school every day for sixth period, we head to Spanish class, which is filled with students from the middle school farm. They come over after a long day of working with the animals, They kind of stink, and they’re a group of younger students who don’t really fit in. Most of the high school students see them as outsiders and never really accept them onto their turf. Again, though, the next year, those same students, who have graduated the farm, will find themselves on the inside. This will come as a relief to them, and they will continue to fight for social acceptance. But they never seem to learn their lesson, because the very next year, when the new set of freshmen come over from the farm, they are equally excluded by the new 10th graders. Even though, it was less than a year ago, that they sat in those very chairs, feeling like outsiders.
Loring: I remember Sarah telling about an experience at the Rotary Youth Leadership Camp where they split the group up along several lines. For example, the facilitator asked people to leave the main group and go to the other side of the room if their parents were divorced. Next, they asked people to split off if they were a racial minority. Then, if they had experienced physical abuse. And so on. While each group was separated (read, insiders and outsiders), they asked them “What do you most want us to know about you?” She was also interested to note that it was always different people in the outsider group. You could be inside one moment and outside the next.
Jacob: Where in your life are you an insider? Where are you an outsider? Do you purposely cross over the line and embrace the “other side”? When you do find yourself on the inside, there is pressure to stay inside. When you are outside, there is fear or rejection and alienation. Where do we stand as a church? If someone walked in that back door right now, wearing old, dirty clothes, unshowered for many days and smelling like it, perhaps missing a few teeth, what would be your first impression? Would you welcome them? That’s what it says we’ll do on the sign outside. Would you blame them for their problems? How many times have you said to yourself, I’d be willing to give money to that person begging on the off ramp, but I know they’d just spend it on alcohol or drugs, or they’re just lazy, or ... or … fill in the blank.
Loring: As human beings, it’s natural for us to categorize things. For example, I can’t walk into this room and look at this (indicating chair) and say to myself, “Well, it has four legs, there’s a flat area here that I could sit down on, there’s a straight area here that I can lean against…” No, I walk in and recognize it as a chair and I immediately know I can sit down on it. If I had to spend time analyzing each item individually, I’d be overwhelmed with detail. We naturally do the same things with people. She’s old. He’s white. She’s rich. He’s poor. She’s smart. He’s stuck-up. She’s beautiful. Etc, etc. This behavior doesn’t usually get us into much trouble with chairs. It usually guides us to places we can rest our feet. Even with people, it can be helpful, we may get a sense of how to relate to someone, make a connection, share a common experience. But the problem comes when we assume that our picture of the person is in fact, who they are. They are not our classification, they are not a statistic, they are not who we assume they are. They are unique, unlike anyone we’ve ever met before, and we have to be careful not to try and turn our image into reality.
Jacob: There will always be “outsiders” in humanity – the job of a faithful people is to know and live the belief that we are all “insiders” in God’s love.
Loring: Point two: Rules versus faith. In the meal with the tax collectors, and the two healings, Jesus is ignoring some very important rules of the time. And just in case he doesn’t realize it, the Pharisees are quick to point it out! He was not supposed to hang out with sinners, and he certainly wasn’t supposed to touch bleeding women and dead bodies. But to Jesus, when it comes to rules versus faith, faith wins! And sometimes, the rules are wrong or there are no rules. Again, faith wins! If Jesus followed all the rules, could he in fact, reach the very people he needed to? As the scripture passage says, “those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” Rules that keep us apart, that keep us from caring for others, rules that go counter to our very faith are the rules that we must re-examine.
Jacob: There was a team at my school in which the skill level of the players varied greatly, consisting of a few very talented players and some who were playing the sport for the first time. After the first few games where the talented players received most of the playing time and the lesser-talented players subbing in only if there was enough time, the team had a meeting called by the captains who were two of the most talented players. They tried to work out a system of playing time that was contrary to the unwritten rule of “win at all costs,” but in their minds, was necessary in order to equal out the playing experience, and ensure that everyone had a good time.
Loring: Martin Luther King, Jr., once said “An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.” Our laws are applied equally to rich and poor. For example, it is just as illegal for a rich person to sleep in a downtown doorway as it is for a poor person. The law against stealing a loaf of bread to feed your kids applies to both rich and poor. The law that prevents people from crossing the border to find work applies to both Mexicans and Americans. Equal application of the law doesn’t necessarily mean equal treatment for everyone.
Jacob: In just over a week, gays and lesbians in California will finally be able to legally marry each other. The state will no longer presume to tell people who they can fall in love with. This is an example of faith winning over rules, and also, in this case, supported by the constitution. I hope that opponents are not successful in November in writing discrimination into our constitution where it does not currently exist.
Loring: Barbie’s sister Leslie has three kids and when they were in school, the youngest, Curt, had a learning disability. The older kids complained that Leslie was spending all her time with Curt and not splitting her time evenly between all three. She explained to them that he needed more of her time, and that “fair” does not always translate to “equal.” If she were to divide her time exactly in thirds, they would get more than they needed and Curt would not get enough.
Jacob: The point is that rules cannot account for every situation or every person. Exceptions sometimes need to be made and sometimes the rules ignored altogether. There was a boy in Los Angeles who was suspended under the zero tolerance rules for having a toy gun the size of a Monopoly piece on his key ring. Another in Texas was suspended just for forming his thumb and forefinger into the shape of a gun. What does our conscience tell us is fair? What does our faith tell us? God’s rules are rules of acceptance, peace, healing and love.
Loring: Ready for the third point? God meets you where you are. The bleeding woman in this morning’s gospel is on the fringe of the crowd. She is generally not noticed by anyone except Jesus. In fact, we’re not even sure whether anyone in the crowd noticed the miracle that was performed in a moment where she merely touches the fringe of his cloak. She was hoping and believing that she might somehow get to a place that would “work” … that would give her enough of Jesus’s presence to receive healing. But Jesus came to her, she had reached out as far as she could, and God reached the rest of the way to her.
Jacob: There’s a famous poem attributed to Mary Stevenson called Footprints in the Sand, which most of you have probably heard before, but I’d like to repeat it here because I think it makes the point well.
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there was one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord,
"You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during
the most trying periods of my life
there has only been one
set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most,
have you not been there for me,
The Lord replied,
"The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you."
Loring: It is a seamless transition when we reach as far as we can … God meets us at exactly that point. We often try to reach farther, hoping our deeds might close the gap instead of our faith. Why do we feel we must always do better, reach higher, get a better grade, keep a cleaner house, bring home a bigger paycheck in order to earn God’s love? God tells us we are loved where we are and for who we are. Jim and Jean Strathdee sing “You Can’t Earn Love” with these lyrics:
Jacob: I go to church on Sunday, I follow all the rules.
I don’t cut in line when I’m at school.
I try to make my bed and clean up my room.
I know how to vacuum and use a broom.
My mom and dad tell me I’m doing fine.
I do my homework right on time.
I try so hard to do all the right stuff.
Sometimes it seems like it’s never enough.
You know you can’t earn love, and I’m so very glad.
I don’t have to be a perfect child, or a super mom or dad.
I know that God loves me ever since the world began.
God loves me, just as I am.
Loring: I pay all my taxes, go to work each day,
Pledge to the church, join the PTA
My moral standards are beyond reproach.
I’m a Sunday School teacher and a soccer coach.
I read my Bible whenever I can.
I keep my kitchen spic and span
I keep so busy, there’s so much to do,
And I feel like a failure when I’m all through.
You know you can’t earn love, and I’m so very glad.
I don’t have to be a perfect child, or a super mom or dad.
I know that God loves me ever since the world began.
God loves me, just as I am.
Jacob: The woman in the gospel tried to get as close as she could to Jesus, but still did not believe she was close enough. She was faithful that if she were able to touch even a few threads of his clothing, she would be made well. And that is the miracle of God’s presence, that when you reach the place where you cannot go further, God reaches the rest of the way.
Loring: Rebecca Rupp writes: “Still, as failures go, we’re in good company. Take Benjamin Franklin. As a young man, Ben composed a master list of 12 resolutions, later tacking on a killer 13th (“Imitate Jesus and Socrates”). He had particular difficulty, he notes in his Autobiography, with Resolution No. 2 (“Silence—Avoid trifling conversation”), No. 3 (“Order—Let all your things have their places”) and No. 5 (“Frugality—Waste nothing”). Ben kept track of his performance in a small book in which he entered a black mark each day for each resolution broken. He had intended to reuse the little book, eventually erasing old black marks as his performance improved. It didn’t. So many black marks appeared on top of black marks that the little book developed holes. He had to resort to keeping his records on a piece of ivory, from which the accumulated black marks could be tactfully mopped off with a wet sponge.”
Jacob: If God does keeps track of our performance, it’s on a piece of ivory, wiping the slate clean with the cleansing power of love, forgiveness and grace. We must try and improve our performance, limit the number of marks we accumulate, but also realize that God’s grace is there wherever we stop. We cannot fall short in God’s eyes, because God has infinite patience and can reach across any distance to close the gap.
Loring: Let us pray. Oh God, help us to bring others inside. Help us to know and live the belief that we are all “insiders” in your love. Help us listen to your voice in our lives, replacing rules with faith when the world’s rules are wrong. We pray for your reassurance that we are good enough, and that you will meet us, right where we are. Amen and blessed be.
