Sermon 8th January 2017

Over the coming weeks, we will be looking at the story of Jesus as told in the book of Matthew. 

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker, begins our study. The reading is from Matthew 8 verses 11-13.

What can Jesus do?

~ A classic is a book that is much praised, and rarely read.

~ 75% of statisticians are 90% confident 52% of the time.

​~ Generally, a person has 2 reasons for doing something: one that sounds good; and a real one.

~ If at first you don’t succeed, try looking in the recycling bin for the instructions.

~ Money and power don’t spoil a character; they only bring it to light.

~ People seem to get nostalgic about a lot of things that they weren’t so keen on the first time around.

~ What your heart possesses, your life expresses.

~ Why is the word ‘abbreviation’ so long?

And ~ ‘Go. What you believed could happen has happened.’

It’s possible that some of those classic 2016 one-liners might stick in at least some minds as 2017 unfolds; but only one of them comes directly from today’s passage. The last of them was my contribution: ‘Go. What you believed could happen has happened’ is how Matthew’s account of Jesus’ encounter with that Roman soldier ends in The Message translation. It’s markedly different from how it ends in the other gospel where this story is told, in any translation of Luke; but then Matthew was wanting to tell the whole Jesus story in his own special way; for his own special reasons. My own note-taking on today’s reading is very illustrative of that, I think. In my first read-through of these 13 verses I put no less than 12 marks next to single words or short phrases that leapt out at me; just as Matthew intended!

Now, we are picking this story up some way in, obviously, this being chapter 8! But it’s been quite some while since we’ve done a series from this particular gospel; so some word of general introduction would probably be helpful. We really could do with knowing more about the book-author who we’ll go through to Lent with – even though it’s the person who he wrote about who will be our main focus, of course. The person who he wrote about, Jesus, was Matthew’s main focus too of course. So much so that the author didn’t put anything in about himself; including his name! It’s early (First Century) church tradition that names him as Matthew; formerly known as Levi; the tax-collector who became one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. Possibly!

Much has been written by many people over many centuries since then: about who wrote this gospel; when; and why. It makes for interesting, and lengthy, reading; which all boils down to the usual final conclusion: no-one can know anything for sure, about any of those issues! What isn’t in dispute, though, is the text itself and how it’s very carefully ordered into 5 main blocks. The majority of Matthew is made up of 5 meaty sections of Jesus’ teaching; followed by groups of stories of where he went and what he did. There’s no reason not to keep to the tradition of calling the person who did this Matthew; or to doubt that his main original target audience were Jews either. His efforts to prove to them that Jesus was God’s Messiah, and His Son, and how to live for him have long been helpful to far wider groupings. Historically this makes Matthew the most used, and most quoted, of all 4 of the gospels – for all the reasons that we’ll discover.

Now in this series ‘all’ we’ll cover is Matthew’s first block of action-telling. It’s the one that follows directly on from the first block of his teaching. That – Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount – is what we looked at in our last Matthew series, 3 years ago. These two are, not surprisingly – and quite deliberately – very closely related. It’s a key part of Matthew’s chosen style to illustrate Jesus’ teaching in very practical ways. “Jesus had great authority, and so needs to be listened to” is the main conclusion of his Sermon that’s just ended in Matthew 7. Well now here is some truly remarkable action that proves just how much, and what kind of, authority Jesus has; in radical life-affirming, life-changing, life-giving ways. “Isn’t the person who doesn’t just say such things but can also do such things worth believing in, and living for?” Matthew’s asking his readers: us.

It is to that remarkable action, and to all that it has to say to us today that we need to get soon. But not quite yet. It’s important to recognise that if what I’ve just said sounds a little ‘constructed’ then that’s because it is. Unlike Luke, Matthew never set out to write an ordered account of what happened when in Jesus’ life, or death. His deliberate aim was instead to bring different strands together into coherent blocks, so that his readers wouldn’t miss why particular things happened, or were said. Matthew wasn’t making any of it up much less trying to re-write history; but we do need to know what we’ve got in our hands here. Only then can we learn the lessons that Matthew wants everyone to grasp: who Jesus is; where he fits into God’s wider story; why he came; what he has done; and what that means: for everyone.

So, it’s to these 2 stories we go, then; with that background firmly in mind. As I say, they’ve not been randomly chosen – either individually or as a combination: they are put here by Matthew to Make A Point; and We Are Meant To GET This Point – or these points, I should say. And that’s why Matthew is in such a hurry to tell these stories too. The second of them is 10% shorter than it is in Luke; while the first story is over a third longer when Mark tells it! In Matthew all sorts of detail gets left out so we’re not distracted from The Point. That’s why my notes had so many star-marks all over them: all the action has been condensed right down. But the more you think about it, the more you realise that there is in these stories; and the more stars you might want to put in, to return to later, then.

So, starting with Matthew’s first story: Jesus comes down from a mountain, crowds following him; a man with leprosy*; kneels*: “Lord*, if you want*, you can fix this*”; Jesus touches* him; says he wants to*; does it*; tells him exactly what to do next**. Next story! NO! Wait!! The use of a pause button is required here; so good job there’s a week to live with this passage before next Sunday then! And I do hope that you will make use of this time, in the midst of your everyday life; to see just what God has done, and changed, through the person whose birth we have just celebrated; and then to ask what that must mean: for you; and for how you live each day.

Of course there’s often cultural interpretation needing to be done; but that’s mostly a matter of spotting the obvious, and then doing some research; in the same on-line way that lots of us would about anything else. We know that so much has changed in our own life-time: medically, socially, technologically; and especially in this century so far, or the last 10 years. Information is easily accessible about how it used to be, though: like for people branded as lepers back when there was no cure. It doesn’t take much to discover how people ‘like that’ (or even just thought to be ‘like that’) were banished from all ‘normal’ society; that touch was beyond possibility for them, in case of contagion; and so how this person risked their very life by appearing in public; to take such a great step of faith as this.

Matthew’s key point here is that this sort faith is more than met by God at work in the person of Jesus. Of course we must note that, and learn from it; not least that this person’s ‘faith’ is not some vague general belief in God, but rather specific and urgent. There is no hint of doubt in his saying to Jesus that he can fix the unfixable. And there is no hint of doubt either in the authority that Jesus has over incurable illness. He orders the man to “Be clean” – after he’s touched him, note – and he is! Not only that, he’s clearly provably healed as well. In both gospel accounts Jesus then sends him to the person who can declare him officially well; and so Jesus ensures that this man will be restored in every way he needs to be: physically, socially, and religiously.

In the less than 90 words that Matthew tells this story in so much has been turned on its head that our heads would be spinning: if they were left to be. But the upside-down-ness of unexpected restoration here has barely even begun; because along comes this Roman soldier: of all people! Again the information is all to hand for any who want to look. When we do, here is what we find: this is the oppressor; the enemy occupier; one of those whom most believed God only would banish, if not punish, for their treatment of His people. We’re surely starting to run out of markers to put next to each of the surprises that are in here already; and we haven’t got even near to the core of it yet! The upside-down-ness of it has still reached epic proportions.

Again we are encouraged to mark what stands out for us in here; and to explore it for all of its remarkableness. Not least amongst that is surely Jesus’ out-loud astonishment at the faith of that soldier. Nowhere in Israel – Israel; amongst God’s own people – has he been met by anything like it. The centurion doesn’t need any demonstration: of all people he knows how it works, authority. Say it, and it’s done (and, in his case, if it isn’t, you’re dead!) There is no doubt, then – just absolute certainty that his servant’s paralysis can be dismissed by Jesus: as indeed it can be; and is, Matthew and Mark each say very clearly. But, wonderful as that must have been for the soldier and for his servant, that’s not point here!

Matthew’s primary point is the authority which Jesus shows, and how that affirms the authority with which he has just been teaching. Jesus means – and can deliver – what he says; and the scope of those claims is only going to grow as Jesus reveals ever more of what he has come to do. Right from the start, though, the seeds are being sown; and Matthew is determined that his readers mustn’t miss them. This is about that radically life-affirming, life-changing, life-giving restoration of how God made his world and all people to be. And nobody – not even a Roman soldier, much less a leper – is beyond God’s reach in Jesus; who is himself the key to unlock this door into life.

That simple, yet deeply profound, message is for all of us today, of course. No matter who we are, what we’ve done, or how we feel, God’s restoration is on offer to us too: in Jesus. Like the leper and the centurion, ‘all’ we have to do is choose to push past any of the barriers that could keep us away from God, and take that step of faith. What awaits us if we do is that radically life-affirming, life-changing, life-giving restoration that we need, in all of the ways that we each need it. Yes, issues around physical healing are bigger and more complex than can be dealt with in any sermon. That’s a conversation which I am, we are, always willing to have, though; as we are any other form of restoration that you might want to talk about. What matters is that we engage with the person of Jesus where, and how, we are; and his invitation to each one of us is to do that. As this series from Matthew unfolds we will see, and hear much more of that; and be challenged about how we respond to it: including with the use of our money. But this is where it begins: with these truly cage-rattling stories that thrust this radically life-affirming, life-changing, life-giving Jesus firmly centre-stage. So the only question is: “How will we respond to him today?”, then. Let’s pray …