Sermon Title: “But they laughed at him”

Sermon by the Reverend John Young-Jung Lee on June 8, 2008

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and `sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: `I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region.

“But they laughed at him”

David Sarnoff  is a businessman and pioneer of American commercial radio and television. He founded the National Broadcasting Company  (NBC) and throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).  When he submitted his project for the radio in the 1920s, his associates  laughed at him and responded like this: "The wireless music box has no imaginable  commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"

When the Beatles applied in 1962 to have their music produced by the Decca Recording Co., the recording company laughed at the Beatles and rejected them saying, “We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." 

Fred Smith, is the founder, chairman, president, and CEO of FedEx, originally known as Federal Express. This is the first overnight express delivery company in the world, and the largest in the  United States. When he was a student at Yale, he submitted his paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. Here is the response of the professor: "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."  Here is another incident of “laughing at him.”

In many cases, people do not see the potential and possibility in the idea, projects and plans. It is unfortunate that many creative ideas are buried in the ground. But it is very fortunate some creative life-giving ideas come alive by the persistence, passion and love of these particular persons. We Christians have many similar experiences like this. I also am the one of many who have many creative ideas for the future church and have shared in many occasions, in the meetings at conference and General Council of the United Church.

Some people said ‘no’ to somewhat innovative ideas of mine and later they responded “I like your dream for the future. I hope it will come to pass.” And many call me ‘a dreamer’. Yes. I am a dreamer. But I believe my dream can come true when it is sown in the faith community, and grows and nurtures through God’s inspiration, through prayer to God and through the passion from God. In this situation of many churches are dying, one of the biggest dreams I want to share with all of you here is that “ Church of Christ is alive and has a bright future.”  

Let us consider our church, DPUC. We have hope because we believe that we are the community of Jesus Christ. The community of Jesus Christ has a special character. One of them is immediate positive response when we hear God’s call. When Jesus called his disciples they acted immediately. Immediately after Matthew was called he got up from his everyday life and followed Jesus. Matthew and as well as Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John were asked to make a move in order to accept the new vision for the world and live the life as disciples. They got up. They left their established routines. They stepped out onto a new road.

Next, the core value of the community of Jesus Christ is “to be with.” The Gospel story describes the follow-up of the calling of Matthew like this: Later that day “many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ came and ate with him and his disciples.” Here we discover that Jesus’ ministry is ‘to be with’ particularly with sinners. Before we go further, we need to clarify what sinners mean in the story of Jesus’ ministry. Let’s start from Matthew who was a tax collector.  He collects tax from his fellow people of Jewish descent for the Roman Empire. So the tax collectors were betrayer of their people, Jews. For this reason, all the Pharisees despised tax collectors. Furthermore, these people were not allowed to worship in the temple. So automatically, they are called sinners. So the sinners in Jesus’ time means the powerless, despised, weak, sick, and with skin deseases.

Jesus was also a Jew. Unlike other Jews, he said to Matthew, "Follow me." Then Matthew got up and followed Jesus. Matthew invited Jesus to his house and had dinner with him. Matthew also invited the disciples and his co-workers. Considering the social situations of that time, it was surprising news to the people in town. So when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and `sinners'?"  On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." It is clear that Jesus’ ministry is ‘to be with’ the powerless, least of the least in the society.

Rather than bring sacrifice to the temple and worship, Jesus wants first of all to be with these people who are called “sinners”. This is his mercy that leads to healing and reconciliation. This is the healing of community. This is the ‘salvation’ from sin. This is the core value of the discipleship. This is how Jesus brings new life to the community. This is how he proclaims the new life in the world, in God’s whole created world. We keep this in our hearts since we are called to the discipleship of Jesus Christ. When Jesus called his disciples, he always asked for some active response. Let us ask ourselves, “What is the level of our discipleship?” “Have we acted immediately or respond with saying to ourselves, ‘Not right now but, perhaps some day I will’?”

Now the second part of today’s Gospel reading moves on to the physical healing that restores into a new life. Jesus was teaching why he desires mercy, not sacrifice and he came for the sinners not for the righteous people. At that time a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." Immediately, Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. This teaches us the priority of Jesus ministry; and therefore this teaches the priority of the Church of Jesus Christ. However the nature of Jesus’ ministry does not change: Healing is what the church exists for. Healing for individual, for family, friends and neighbours, for the society and the world.

Let’s continue to read the story of Jesus’ ministry. On his way for healing, a miracle happened. Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. And the woman was healed from that moment. Jesus said to her with compassion, "Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you."  Here we learn that even in the process of healing, we can experience the healing by our faith.

When Jesus entered the ruler's house, there was a ritual for funeral. There were the flute players and the noisy crowd who mourn the death of a loving daughter of their friend. Here comes rather a shocking proclamation. Jesus says, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. A negative spirit is in conflict against Jesus’ proclamation. It is not the story of 2000 years ago. It happens even in today’s Christian history. The church with the Christ’s vision is not dead. But many say that the church is dying or already dead. Sometimes miracle stories happen and some times not. What we have to know is that where there is the vision of Christ, the church never dies. But we have to remember that the miracle story of Jesus did not happen until the negating crowds were removed out of the room. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.

When the negating crowd is removed out of the room and when there is the Spirit of the passion and of love, miracle happens, “The girl who people announced that she was dead, by the hand of Jesus Christ, she got up.” Today’s Gospel reading ends with what happens as result of healing miracle. “News of this spread through all that region.” This is the urgent message of the church in today’s world. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. This is what we need to hear in our church and in our neighbouring community.

To have this story heard, we first of all need to have passion and love that discovers the life in each one of us and in this church. Don’t look at the past. But look at the future where we hear the calling of Jesus Christ. Jesus is full of hope, full of life giving Spirit. All Jesus’ proclamation includes the message of hope out of despair, light out of darkness, resurrected new life out of death. We are commissioned to proclaim the same message of hope to the world. As church, we gather to praise God for God’s giving of gifts to us, and have joy in our gathering. As our joy overflows, when we share and speak of this joy to the people with our thanks to God, then we will become the living body of Christ.

We have thought about the life as disciples from a) God’s calling, b) our immediate response, c) healing as the core value of the community, d) healing is experienced on our move for healing, e) Christ’s passion in our hearts can see the life in the church, f) miracle is experienced, and g) news of this miracle spread through all the region. All these elements are essential in the living faith community. This is what we need to check in our journey as a faith community, what is strong and what is weak and what needs to continue to do and what needs to be developed.

What the scripture witnesses to us today is this: “News of this spread through all that region.” This is what Jesus wants us to be. We know who we are, and what our specialties are. We are friendly and gentle and kind. We have the most beautiful smiles in town. We know that we are very close to what Jesus wants us to be.  We are almost at the end of our journey in the dark long tunnel and our destination of experiencing the hope. This is my vision. This is our vision. There is a strong will of God that calls us to follow.

God does not count our size. Although we have a small gathering, I am positive that God will say, “You are small as church, but you are so faithful and beautiful.” Perhaps people say ‘no’ and  they may laugh at us. But we believe that God is with us in our smallness or in our weakness. As we journey together in harmony as church, the body of Christ, we will hear God’s words, “You are my beloved. I will be with you always!”  

Thanks be to God.