Pentecost 2 2026 Matthew 9.9-13, 18-26

In our Gospel reading today, we have two passages from Matthew brought together. The call of a disciple and two healing miracles. It is a passage which involves the crossing of boundaries and cultural and religious norms – we could even say the breaking of rules, and all for what? For mercy, that’s what for! So Jesus tells us and shows us.

Jesus calls someone despised by many people in his day,  seen as a traitor and corrupt – a tax collector for the hated Romans. Jesus calls Matthew the tax collector to follow him. Not an obvious choice one might think.  Then he is touched by a woman suffering with a continuous discharge of blood and then he touches a young dead girl. Both of these actions would have declared him ritually unclean in the eyes of the religious law.

So what’s going on here? What we see is Jesus living out the teaching of the prophet Hosea, (Hosea 6.6) “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” It is clear for Jesus and for Matthew that mercy towards others is to take precedence over ritual and religious traditions. It is mercy that the rejected in society and the sick need and it is mercy that Jesus brings. So boundaries are crossed and traditions are challenged, not for the sake of it, but for healing and as an expression of God’s love and mercy.

As Christians our actions, attitudes and judgements are always challenged by Jesus and his attitudes and actions. “I desire mercy not sacrifice.” Seeking to embody the mercy and love of God is a primary calling of anyone who says they follow Jesus. I think we can use this as a yardstick to measure the words, pronouncements and actions of everyone who claims Christian faith, be it at home and abroad. Sadly by this measure I hear some who claim faith failing to live up to this calling, by the way speak about “others” in our society, immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, people of other faiths. ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice’ Our claimed faith should not get in the way of us keeping the great commandments to love God and love our neighbour.

So let’s go to the text.

Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collector to follow him. He was socially despised. His tax collection helped sustain the empire’s elite and the Roman unjust status quo and he would have become rich on the backs of his fellow citizens. Jesus calls Matthew from one empire to another. For following Jesus would mean encountering God’s empire. This divine kingdom embodied in Jesus welcomes social outcasts like Matthew, who quickly and willingly responds.

Now not only did Matthew follow Jesus, but Jesus follows Matthew and sits at dinner in his house, with many more tax collectors and sinners. Jesus does not shy away from the invite and is criticised for it by some Pharisees. Jesus’ response to the criticism is to invite mercy and offer the rather enigmatic comments, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick….. For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’ I am not sure that Jesus is just confirming the judgment of the Pharisees about the dinner guests but reminding them that mercy and love are for all and that that will take him inevitably to the margins of society – so inevitably boundaries are and will be crossed.

For Matthew’s Jesus mercy is at the heart of the social ethos he came to promote. “Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy.” Mt.5.7. Later Jesus will condemn the Pharisees. ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practised without neglecting the others.” Mt 22.23.

Now picture the scenes around the two healing miracles, both women,  one of them is dead and the other is bleeding to death. I suspect that both the woman who is bleeding and the father of the dead girl know that what is going to happen will cross religious boundaries concerning what is deemed clean and unclean. They know that what is going to happen will defile Jesus. Yet they have no hesitations and of course neither does Jesus. A woman on the fringe of society because of her illness and deemed unclean touches the fringe of Jesus’ cloak and a father asks Jesus to touch his dead child. They both have faith not only in the healing power of Jesus but also in the mercy of Jesus. To the woman we hear the wonderful words of Jesus, no rebuke, but “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” It’s interesting that Jesus does not claim to have done anything to have made her well, no he says “your faith has made you well.” An echo of what Jesus says to the Pharisees in verses 12-13. “Those who are well have no need of a physician. Go and learn what this means ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’” The one who is healed recognises her own need, knows she needs a physician, knows she needs Jesus and has faith. We perhaps might not say the same about the Pharisees who thought they did not need a healer, because they were not sick!

So where am I left with this passage. A number off thoughts and questions. How as a church do we embody the welcome and invitation to unlikely people? Are we ready to cross boundaries? Are there moments when I may be more comfortable with the scribes and the pharisees than sitting with the tax collectors and sinners? Do I recognise my need for a physician or do I reckon everything is alright with my life? Have I the faith to reach out to Jesus for healing and be assured of his mercy and love?

Canon Stuart Bain