Sermon 6.7.26 Guest Preacher Doug Riga

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May I speak only to the greater glory of God. In the name of the Father, the name of the Son, and the name of the Holy Spirit. Amen. <Please be seated>

I’m a bit of a science fiction buff. I love movies like Star Wars and The Matrix. I’ve enjoyed reading books by Asimov, Heinlein, and Herbert. I like the gritty dystopian stories that ask the tough questions or make you question our reality and I like the shiny, hopeful stories that paint a picture of a fantastic new world order. One science-fiction movie that I enjoyed a lot was Interstellar. For those who aren’t familiar with Interstellar, the movie takes place in a future where humankind is on the brink and the only path forward seems to be the slim hope of finding a new home for humanity in the stars. A young girl named Murph watches her father leave on a mission to try and find that home and her father promises her that he will return. As you can guess, the years go by and he does not. But Murph never loses faith in the promise he made. Even as an adult. Others tell her to move on. But Murph refuses to abandon hope in her father’s promise. She keeps believing - quietly, stubbornly, sometimes angrily - that her father will stay true to his word. Her faith isolates her at times. It costs her. But she holds on. In the end, her trust becomes the key to unlocking the truth that saves her family and her world.

In today’s Gospel, there is a lot going on. We start off with Jesus calling Matthew, the tax collector (aka Levi in the other Gospels), to follow Him. Now I want to take a minute to talk about that before continuing. When we hear that Matthew was a tax collector, we conjure certain images. We think of a government official. Someone we may not be fond of or even dislike, but still just an official doing his job of collecting taxes on behalf of the government. In the Israel of Jesus’ time, a tax collector was viewed as something much worse. This was a collaborator. A Jew who worked for the Roman authorities. And to make things worse, they lined their own pockets at the expense of their own people. So these were thought of as the low of the low. Beyond saving. In that context, you can almost understand why the Pharisees questioned why Jesus would want to consort with “those” people. And it would be unprecedented for Him to call one of these “unredeemable” sinners into His inner circle.

Many of Jesus’ detractors were rule followers. They believed that if I just follow the rules and stay on the straight and narrow, then I’m good with God. They saw many of the people that Jesus associated with as people who did not follow the rules. People who were careless in the ways of the Torah. That did things the Pharisees considered impure. They were marginalized and social outcasts, and because of this, their morality must be suspect. Why would Jesus want to sully His reputation by not only being seen with these types of people, but actually breaking bread and associating with them? The Pharisees would steer clear of anyone they considered to be less than righteous. But Jesus doesn’t. Jesus goes out of His way to reach out to the prostitutes. To the unclean. To the sinners.

What the Pharisees neglect to see is that they were sinners too. We are all sinners. We have all fallen short, no matter how hard we have tried. We try to hide it. We try to hide it from others. We try to hide it from ourselves. But the truth is that we have all fallen short. That doesn’t make us bad people. It makes us human. Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners”. Jesus’ message of love is for all of us. We all need a savior. The tax collectors like Matthew understood this. They believed in the loving power of Jesus that welcomed all. The Pharisees did not. They saw themselves as good, righteous people who followed the rules. In their minds, they were all set. That is why they failed to hear what Jesus was trying to say. They could not understand a faith that embraces everyone including the sinner.

The remainder of today’s Gospel focuses on two intertwined healing miracles that rest on unshakable faith like Murph’s faith in her father’s promise to return. We start off with a synagogue leader (identified as Jairus in the other gospels) who is begging Jesus to bring his daughter back from the dead. Jairus’ faith is obvious. He kneels before Jesus. This is not the act of a typical religious leader, but the act of someone who knows that only something truly miraculous can bring his daughter back. This public humbling of himself takes humility, courage, and most importantly, faith. He states with obvious conviction that if Jesus lays his hand upon his daughter, she will live. Jesus responds to this immediately. But take note that the leader is part of the religious elite. The very same group that often vilifies Jesus for His perceived transgressions. The same groups of people who called Jesus out for breaking bread with sinners. But again, Jesus does not see things the way we might. Jesus’ love is open to all who believe, not just one “special” group.

While Jesus makes his way to the leader’s house, he is surrounded by a crowd of disciples and followers. In the hustle and bustle of the moment, Jesus’ cloak is touched. We’ve all been in situations like that. A big crowd. Making your way. Bumping into people here and there as you try to make your way “upstream” within the crowd. Lots of noise. But Jesus still notices the smallest of touches. This desperate woman, who’s unshakable faith in Jesus’ healing power leads her to this moment, hoping to bring an end to her suffering of over twelve years. This is a woman who, because she was bleeding, would have been considered unclean. Shunned and excluded. Forced to the margins because of her illness. Like Jairus, her faith in Jesus knows that this act of healing that she seeks, even in the smallest and lightest of touches, is not beyond Him. And Jesus, while startled, did not rebuke her or turn her away. He healed her and called her daughter.

After this brief interlude, Jesus arrives at Jairus’ house where it appears that his daughter has indeed passed. It was not uncommon for there to be flute playing and people wailing and carrying on when someone had passed. Because Jairus was probably well off due to his position at the synagogue, there was probably quite a gathering to mourn his daughter’s passing. But Jesus, ever the one to wade in to places where others would hesitate, tells the mourning crowd to disperse. That the girl was not dead. And like the woman who was hemorrhaging, he proceeded to heal her straightaway. Again, we see the power of faith in Jesus leads to a miracle of healing.

In each of these instances, we have seen that Jesus’ love is all-inclusive. He loves the rich and the poor. He loves the rule followers and the rebels. He loves the healthy and the sick. He loves the mainstream and the marginalized. He loves us all. Without any reservation. Freely given without condition. We are all loved sinners. Jesus healed the unclean woman who others avoided for years. Jesus healed the daughter of the leader of the synagogue. Jesus heals us too. In ways seen and unseen.

And we have seen the power of faith in that all-encompassing love. Jairus’ unyielding faith in Jesus led to his daughter’s return. The desperately ill woman’s unshakable faith in Jesus’s restorative powers healed her at the slightest of touches. These were people who had been brought low by long term sickness and death. And yet…they did not lose faith. They believed in the power of Jesus’ healing love despite evidence to the contrary.

Our baptismal covenant, asks us if we put our whole trust in Jesus’ grace and love. Put simply, we are called to have faith in Jesus. Faith is powerful. Faith can move mountains, but it can also do small things like lift us up at the moment when we feel we are at our lowest. We are asked to go out into the world and share this wonderful gift of Christ’s love. To share it with everyone like Christ did. No conditions. No reservations. This love is for all. We are asked to believe in this powerful message and share it. To have faith. Like the hemorrhaging woman. Like Jairus. Like Murph. To have faith in Jesus Christ and his unconditional love for all of us. During Pride month when we are reminded of the importance of inclusion, acceptance, and love for all, it is only through our faith in Him that we can find that grace filled love and healing that we and our troubled world so desperately need.

Amen.