A catalyst for change

Imagine for a moment what it would have been like to be Matthew, the tax collector (Matthew 9. 9-13, 18-26). Tom Wright suggests that you would sit day-by-day in a hot little booth waiting for travelers to pay the toll as they passed from one province to the next, just like people do today at the Dartford Crossing. Just like today people didn’t enjoy paying tolls in order to continue on their journey, and it wouldn’t have been much fun for you either. On top of that, those who come to the toll booth and those in the villager or town where you live were constantly angry with you. Angry, because you were collaborating with the hated authorities and angry, because you were making extra money for yourself by collecting too much. As a result, tax collectors like you are lumped together with ‘sinners’ and ‘outcasts’ in the places where you live and work. And this goes on day by day, year by year for most of your life.

Then think what it would be like to have a young prophet with a spring in his step and God’s kingdom in his heart coming past one day and simply asking you to follow him. How would that feel? Well, we are told in the story itself because when it says that Matthew responded by getting up and following Jesus, a resurrection word is used that means he arose, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually as well. The act of getting up was for Matthew an entry into a completely new way of life. It was a coming alive all over again, a resurrection.

Each of these three stories is a story of resurrection. Jesus touches the lives of Matthew, the woman who had suffered from severe bleeding, and the dead girl in ways that transformed their existence and brought them back to life. For Matthew, his work was a dead end. For the woman who touched Jesus, her illness meant that her life-blood was literally draining away and, in the case, of the Official’s daughter, the girl was quite literally dead!

And these stories raise the same questions for us. Are there places in our lives where we are at a dead end? Are there things in our lives that drain the life-blood from us? And are there areas of our lives where we feel dead, as though life itself has come to an end for us?

Jesus brings the life of God into all that was dead about these people’s lives. He is the catalyst for change. His arrival on the scene brings the opportunity for hope and faith and so we see Matthew getting up, leaving his work but not his friends, and following Jesus. We see the Jewish official coming to Jesus believing that his daughter will live and we see the woman with severe bleeding reaching out to touch the very edge of Jesus’ cloak believing that if she can only touch his cloak she will get well.

Jesus’ arrival and presence are the catalyst and opportunity for change and for the faith that life can be different, can be better than it is now. How will you respond to Jesus today? We are in the presence of Christ continually, how will we respond? Will we ask for his help, reach out to touch his life, and get up to follow him this morning? He is with us and his presence can be the catalyst for our change in our lives and communities. What change is it that we need to see?

Jesus becomes a catalyst for change because he crosses boundaries. Each of these three people was an outcast in some way: Matthew was a hated collaborator and the woman and girl were because they were considered ritually unclean. By touching a dead body and by being touched by an ‘unclean’ woman, Jesus would have become doubly ‘unclean’ and should have had to bathe himself and his clothes and wait until the next day before resuming normal social contact. But instead of becoming contaminated himself, Jesus’ touch brought the opportunity for change, for health and life. People asked, ‘Why is Jesus eating with outcasts, with tax collectors and sinners?’, and the answer was the same; that by crossing those boundaries he brought the opportunity for change. His work was not to protect himself from ‘outcasts’ or those considered ‘unclean’ but to bring the possibility of change into the lives of such people by crossing the barriers that kept other people out.

It was into this way of life – the crossing of boundaries in order to bring the possibility of change – that Matthew was called. Jesus called him to be a disciple. In other words, someone who sat at the teacher’s feet to hear his words and who followed the teacher everywhere to see his actions in order to learn what to say and do himself. As followers of Christ, we have the same calling; to see what Jesus does and get involved ourselves. As such we need to ask ourselves, ‘Who are the people considered as ‘outcasts’ or ‘unclean’ in our workplaces, communities and nation?’ We need to know because, if we are to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, those are the very people with whom we should be meeting, eating, and seeking transformation. We need to ask ourselves, ‘What are the boundaries and barriers separating people from others?’ We need to know because those are the boundaries and barriers which we need to cross in order to bring the possibility of change?

And so, these stories bring us both the possibility and the challenge of change. What are the dead-ends and dead aspects of our lives that need to be brought back to life? What are the boundaries that we can cross to bring the possibility of change to those who our outcasts in our day and time?

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, you were despised and rejected by human beings, so we bring before you the needs of those who are despised and overlooked in our world, including ourselves. You value all and call us to put aside our sinful tendency to scapegoat and ignore others in order that we see what is unique and especially valuable both in those who are other than us and also in ourselves. Amen.

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