2nd Sunday after Pentecost/June 11, 2023
Hosea 5:15-6:6; Psalm 50:7-15; Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Opening Prayer (adapted): —Dr. Kathy Bozzuti-Jones
Loving God, Your merciful hand is at work all around us. Open our eyes and our hearts, we pray, to practice the virtue of steadfast love and mercy, wherever there is exclusion and division and a desire and need for healing. Help us to reach out and walk with one another in times of need and in times of thanksgiving. Help us to become more like You, a loving and merciful God. Amen
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is on the move…not as in hurrying from one place to another to get in as many visits, tasks, appointments with others…but he’s on the move…walking in the way of love …walking in a way that he hopes his disciples and those who are paying attention to Him…will catch on to this way of understanding what God desires of us, and for us…a way of life that seeks to unite us to God and one another, through a steadfast love and mercy, that can promote healing and unity for all of God’s people, and all of God’s creation…
I love how the reading unfolds today…and especially how the first sentence seems to set the pace for what it looks like to walk in the way of love with Jesus and each other…
The gospel begins… As Jesus was walking along…
And as Jesus is walking along…the story begins with the call of Matthew, to become one of his disciples…Matthew gets up from what he is doing, leaves behind his old life, and follows Jesus…Perhaps wondering…why is Jesus calling me to follow him and be one of his disciples? Me, Matthew, not the most favorable and trust-worthy person to encounter or be found interacting with…
Then they gathered for dinner and conversation with other tax collectors and outcasts or sinners as the Pharisees had labeled them…And as we heard in the reading…the Pharisees begin questioning why Jesus, this religious leader and his disciples are eating with such “people? – the tax collectors and the sinners…Jesus responds in this teachable moment with these words: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’
“I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice”… (Hosea 6:6)
While Jesus was still speaking to the Pharisees, a leader of the synagogue came in to ask Jesus to come lay his hands on his daughter, who has just died, believing that Jesus’ touch could help her live. Jesus takes notice of him and his plea…And at his request, Jesus gets up and follows him, with his disciples.
Next, as Jesus, and his disciples are walking along…
They encounter a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years, someone considered by society as unclean, untouchable..…she prayed simply to touch his cloak, believing she would be made well by doing this…Jesus takes notice of her…acknowledges her reaching out to him, and affirms that her faith has made her well…
Today’s journey continues…as Jesus, and his disciples are walking along…
They finally arrive at the home of the leader of the synagogue who had asked Jesus to come lay his hands on his daughter, who has just died, believing that Jesus’ touch could help her live. We are told that there was a lot of commotion going on in the house when they arrived. Jesus sent the flute players and the crowds outside…telling them that the girl was sleeping, not dead. And they all laughed at him. But the story continues with yet another healing when Jesus reaches out to take the girl’s hand, and she gets up…
As we look back on all the encounters Jesus and his disciples had along the way while they were walking with each other…
I wonder if Matthew’s hope for a new purpose and sense of dignity and worth was restored when he answered Jesus’ invitation and call to follow him?
I wonder if the woman who suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years, had her hope re-ignited for a life she had yet to imagine would ever be possible…
I wonder if the father and the daughter, and all who thought she was dead… had their hope awakened to see how healing and new life is possible…in ways that we may never fully comprehend…
I wonder if you can think of all those times, you have given a glimpse of hope to someone by simply noticing them, acknowledging them and their worth and dignity…
I wonder if you can think of some people along the way who have given you a glimpse of hope through their steadfast love and mercy…
That’s all God desires of us and for us…is that we walk through this life together, with steadfast love and mercy with God and one another…
I wonder where Jesus and his disciples, and you and I, will journey to next…as we walk through this life together….
Here’s a closing thought that I wrote on a recent retreat when we were given the word “Journey” to reflect on…
I am walking along…with Jesus, with you, with all the gifts of creation, eager and willing to show us signs of hope…
I am on a journey to discover this hope in myself and share it with others…and I hope you will join me on this journey, too…so that you and I and all of creation can live and flourish in love and hope and peace and unity in this life…and in the life yet to come…
Closing prayer/Hymn: (LEVS) 93 - Give thanks to the Lord
Give thanks to the Lord for He is so good, His mercy endures forever.
1 To Him alone who does mighty wonders,
Who by His understanding made the heavens.
Refrain
2 He made the sun to govern the daytime,
The moon and stars to govern o’er the nighttime.
Refrain
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church
Sitka, AK