Medicine of Mercy

Proper 5, Year A Matthew 9:9-13;18-26

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Gospel lesson, we see that Jesus is eating a meal with Matthew, tax collectors, a bunch of sinners. The Pharisees go and they ask, Why are you doing this? And Jesus reveals something about himself. He reveals that he's a great physician. And he says that his medicine that he gives, that they, the Pharisees, are to go and learn about, is that he desires mercy, not sacrifice, or we could say it, compassion and not sacrifice. And this is the very thing that Matthew begins to explain to us what this means. Matthew doesn't leave you to go and learn about what this means. Matthew begins to share with you what this means through giving you three examples. But before we dive into these three examples from our gospel lesson about this medicine of mercy that the great physician wants to give to those who are sick, is that you have to understand that the concept of mercy itself isn't just about withholding consequences from you. This is often what we think about mercy. And we even enjoy this part of mercy. It's the fact that when you go before the judge and you are guilt-ridden, that you have absolutely no excuses, you are guilty of the sin that you've committed, the offenses that you have made, but yet the judge withholds from you, restrains from you, he arrests from you the consequences. That's oftentimes what we think about mercy. And that's great. That's good and that's right. But you need to go a little bit further with mercy. Mercy isn't just restraint, it's also release. Mercy is a release to giving new life into your life. This is what we see in these three examples. What is before us in our gospel lesson is Jesus, who identifies as a great physician and that who remedies all the sickness in the world at various levels with the medicine of mercy. And we must learn what this means, what mercy means over sacrifice. Our first example comes with Matthew himself. Matthew is on the road to destruction. Why? It's because he is a tax collector. He's working as a publican, as one who is in the secular worldly realm. He has a love and desire for money. So much so that he is willing to take from those who can't afford it in order to fill his pockets. He is on the road to destruction. And yet Jesus walks by his booth and in his great mercy offers him mercy by calling him out. Jesus calls him out as the great physician. Stop going down that road, and yet let me put you on the right road that leads to life. There are two ways to live life. For the world which is passing away and leads to death, or in the way of Christ, which leads to eternal life. And it is the medicine of mercy that brings you from one, that calls you out from one, like Matthew, and into a new life. And that's exactly what Matthew does. He literally goes from being called a sinner to an apostle who has wrote the first gospel that we get to read about Jesus Christ Himself. This is the gospel that we read this morning, penned from Matthew, the sinner's hand, who dined with Christ because Christ gave him the medicine of mercy, who pulled him and called him out of his life, leading to destruction, and placed him on the road to rightness and life. That's what Matthew reveals to us in this first example that the great physician is able to call people out from a life of destruction and give them to a life that is everlasting. The second example we're given is the hemorrhaging woman. What you must understand is the way we learn about what blood is. She's been bleeding out for 12 years. We are told in other gospels that she has sought doctors who cannot cure her. She has sought everything that the world has to offer and yet has found no remedy and no healing for herself. In the Old Testament, in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, we are told something about our blood, that our life is in our blood. And so we need to handle it carefully. And so if you can bring that into your understanding that this woman for 12 years, she has been losing her life and it's been falling out on the ground needlessly, and she can't stop it. She can't plug up the hole, she can't stop the pouring out. But in faith, she goes to the great physician and in faith trusts in his remedy that if I could just touch his garment, then my pouring out of life will be stopped up, and I can live fully again. And so the great physician turns and looks to her, who has reached out for him in faith, and he offers her the medicine, the remedy of mercy. And it's because of his mercy, his great mercy, that she's healed, that she's cleaned up, that her life is now made whole and it's not pouring out. So this medicine of mercy goes to those by calling them out. It also cleans up their life. But then lastly, we come to the last example of our gospel lesson, which is the ruler's daughter. The daughter is dead. She's not breathing. She can't, like Matthew, get up from her booth or in her bed and follow after Jesus. She cannot, like the hemorrhaging woman, reach out and touch the garment of Jesus in faith. She's dead, lifeless, without breath, no aspect of life in her. She is in need of somebody else to intercede for her. And this is where we see her dad comes to Jesus, worships him by bowing down, says, My daughter's dead. Can you lay your hand of mercy on her and bring her back to life? And what's interesting is Matthew describes Jesus' actions with the same actions that he did. In verse 9, we are told that when Jesus says, Matthew, come and follow me, we are told specifically that Matthew got up and followed Jesus, simple and plain. But when this man comes on behalf of his daughter who's dead and pleads and worships Jesus, the great physician, too, gets up and follows after him to the dead daughter. This shows that not only does Jesus call people out from a destructive life, not only does Jesus clean up a life that can be healed by the world, but Jesus comes to those who are in desperate need of his medicine. When others come and worship and intercede for them. So Jesus goes, he touches the girl, tells her to rise up, and she lives. And we learn that there's not one place, there's not one aspect of all of our lives that mercy can't reach and heal and bring life to. This is the very thing that we learn in our gospel lesson, and why Jesus paints himself, tells his tells the Pharisees and all the sinners, I'm a great physician. I am the only physician, and I have medicine, and the medicine is mercy. Not just a restraining of the consequences you deserve, but a life-giving remedy. Oftentimes you might look or find those commercials. If you watch commercials anymore, sometimes you can pay not to watch them, but these commercials happen all the time. You know, Ozepic or whatever other medication, they say, go and ask your doctor about this medicine. And maybe this will work for you too. Well, here's where we come to where the rubber meets the road for our gospel lesson. Maybe come and approach the great physician and ask him for his medicine and mercy, for your life, but not just for your life. Pay attention to that last example. And this is where hopefully your understanding is becoming more full about how we worship. When we come to the prayers of the people, you can intercede for those who are dead, who can't exercise faith, who can't get up and respond to a call. You can intercede and worship Christ and pray on their behalf that Jesus, would you bring this medicine of mercy to them? Can you get up and go to them and pull them from death into life? You have, according to the scriptures, that example before you so that in earnest, in humility, that you can go and plead with the great physician to go and bring healing to somebody else's life. This is why I think we are told these examples right after Jesus says, go and learn what this means, that I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Jesus wants you to learn what it means that he desires mercy and not sacrifice. And Matthew sets out these lessons before us in those three doses that he offers these people. Those who are destroying their lives by clinging to the world need the medicine that calls them out into a fruitful life. Those who are losing their life and seeking Jesus will receive the medicine that cleans up the disease draining from their life. And those who have no life at all can be given life when we worship Jesus and ask him to bring his mercy to the ones we love who are dead and need to be made alive. So we learn that mercy is greater, the greater prescription for our lives than any sacrifice we can offer. It's not that sacrifice is needless and pointless. It's just that what God gives us is greater than what we offer Him. So ask the great physician: Is mercy what I need to bring order, healing, and life into my life? And then pray this prayer. I don't know if you're aware of this, but there is this prayer called the Jesus Prayer. Not the Lord's Prayer, but the Jesus Prayer. And it's very short, it's very simple. And a lot of ancient church fathers would often pray this. And this is something that you should commit to memory, something that you should be praying daily. We just sung the song, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. You're in need of mercy, according to our gospel lesson. This is what we could be singing. But this Jesus prayer is this. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner. Simple, isn't it? A sentence that communicates to God that He is the one that dishes out and prescribes mercy that we can have when we cry out to Him. The very remedy for our lives is His mercy. And we pray this. And that's what I would have you to understand. A spoonful of Christ's mercy does wonders for our body, life, and soul. Will you seek the doctor while he may be found? Will you go to him for yourself and for others so that the one solution that we all need can be taken in and begin its work in us? Will you pray, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner? Let's pray.