TCMC Reflection Matthew 9:9-13 by Rev Alison Roberts 9 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. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. (NIV) Reflection I love Jesus’ clear simplistic response to all around him. First there’s the meeting with Matthew at the time recognizable as one of life’s loathed tax inspectors; he calls out to Matthew “follow-me” regardless that he works for the Roman Empire and is known to cheat his own people. Then there’s the character of the confused Pharisee asking Jesus why on earth he would break the strict social and religious rules by sharing food and time and companionship with people considered at the time to be (clear) outcasts. Jesus’ responds, but why would he want to hang out with those who are well and in no need of a doctor? He views the implied impoverishment of Matthew as a Tax collector as a spiritual sickness that requires his healing presence.. It’s a text that shows how Christ includes everyone rich or poor, successful or not, healthy or not; whilst there’s the subtle hint that we can’t be healed until we recognise that we ourselves are ‘sick’ and ‘broken’….. My first retreat was many years ago where I stayed at a convent outside Oxford. I found the place stark, and unwelcoming, with the added misery of bleak cold bedrooms. By day three I was desperate that I hadn’t ‘learnt’ anything from the retreat apart from feeling it had been a totally miserable experience. Before I left I headed to the chapel for a final service; and this morning it was to be Holy Communion. I snuck in and joined the small motley group in the chapel, waiting for the service to begin. Bells rang and a profoundly disabled elderly ordained nun entered the chapel and staggered up to the altar. I say staggered because she used two sticks one in either hand, but the movements of her body meant that the sticks were unable to keep her steady or stop her wavering precariously. I watched horrified and deeply uncomfortable. And whilst she may well been mindful of the chaos that was happening, neither she nor the other nuns reacted. Wine sloshed one way, whilst wafers shot another. Miraculously the spillages landed on the altar rather than on the floor. The sticks themselves relocated separately propped here, fallen there. I found myself questioning how on earth she was managing to remain upright. But somehow she did. But here’s the thing, because as I went up to receive from her I found myself humbled and awash with tears realising this dear nun wore her brokenness on the outside for all to see. My preference had always been to hide those bits of me I was ashamed of and certainly wouldn’t want to share. But for this particular nun no-thing could be hidden. Like Matthew as a tax collector this dear nun wore her brokenness for all to see clearly and for me to be inspired.……… Prayer…. Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours. Amen Prayer attributed to St Teresa of Avila Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England (2000) (including the Psalter as published with Common Worship), material from which is included here, is copyright ©The Archbishops' Council 2000
