Finding and creating community

 Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

Pastor Shannon Kiser, the Speaker at the Synod Assembly last week, talked about the many ways the church could be community for folks who are otherwise unconnected to a church, or even to God. Her proposal is that the church can grow in community by helping outside groups to know Jesus indirectly and informally.

Let’s look at these stories from Matthew’s Gospel with an eye out for community surrounding the people in the story. Some are stories of inclusion, while others are stories of exclusion. Since God loves all, inclusion for all is God’s plan.

Matthew the tax collector was perhaps a wealthy man, but more likely he was a middle-income figure. Tax collection was a contracted business, with the actual work being done by subcontractors and sub-subcontractors. So, his wealth would depend on his status. Most likely with the location of rural Galilee, Matthew was a sub-subcontractor.

There were several taxes. Two of them were the poll tax, levied on individuals over the age of 12 for boys, or 14 for girls, payable in coin. And the land tax, which was payable with the produce of the land. As we know today, unpaid taxes on the land can cause a family to lose its land. Then as now, the cruelty of these taxes and collection practices could cause many people to be turned off their ancestral land. Because tax collectors were ultimately working for the Romans, they were considered traitors by the Jews.

So, it was scandalous for Jesus to approach Matthew, have a conversation with him, and then eat at his home. The scandalous-ness was expanded when the dinner guests included more tax collectors and other sinners.

The Pharisees were quick to react. Why does your teacher eat with these yucky people? Of course, Jesus overhears the question and responds that healthy people don’t need medical care, but sick people do. And … Think about this saying from Amos: I desire mercy, not sacrificial actions.

So, where is the community in this first story? Of course, the Pharisees were their own community, ready to support those in the in-group who were in need. The tax collectors and other outcasts formed groups, communities, of people like themselves. They all lived with the scorn of the Jewish leaders. But as a group they could support each other, helping when someone was ill or injured, or a family was in need.

And right after this story, Gospel writer Matthew tells us another story.  In his story-telling style, Matthew occasionally sandwiches two stories together, with one story interrupting the other and offering contrasting circumstances.

A leader, a wealthy, important man, approaches Jesus and asks him to rush to his home because his daughter has just died. At the home, there is already a crowd of professional mourners. These folks are loudly wailing and playing sad tunes on their flutes, forming community around the family.

Jesus arrives and sends the mourners home, and then enters the girl’s room. Jesus takes her hand and she gets up out of bed. And now, the natural community of family and friends and neighbors can support the daughter and hear over and over the story of her restoration to health. The story of this healing spreads like wildfire.

While Jesus, surrounded by a large community -- his disciples and followers, and the family and friends of the leader -- hurries to the leader’s home, he is interrupted by a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years. She says to herself, if I just touch the fringe of his cloak, I will be made well. Jesus notices healing power leaving him, and turns to see who it was.

He speaks to her, “Daughter, you have been made well.”  Another daughter, healed, in very different circumstances. Women’s bleeding makes them ritually unclean; men, even husbands and close family, can’t touch them without also being made unclean. So, this woman lacks community. She may have folks who help her, but they don’t touch her.

Some of us know what it is like to not be touched, to not be hugged, perhaps because of family situations. But we don’t know what it is like to not be touched for years because of some rule that says we are untouchable.

It is for people like this that the church can be a resource for welcoming community. What if the women of the synagogue had said, We think you should not have to go alone, so we’ll go with you and ask Jesus to heal you. We’ll make it so Jesus can’t miss seeing you. And if he says, no, we’ll still love you and care for your needs.

Leone, Kathy, Mike and I heard several presentations about communities within and outside the congregation by the Keynote speaker, Rev Shannon Kiser. Her messages cause us to wonder: where can Gloria Dei find communities that need support and encouragement? What would it mean to befriend the kids who ride through the parking lot after school every day? What would it mean to include the neighbors in a project of their choosing? What would happen if a portion of the yard became a community garden? What is God leading you to do next?

As Gloria Dei enters a new chapter of life with Pr Tony, it will take some adjusting, some learning about each other, before it feels like he belongs to this community. My prayers will be with you as you continue to grow and adapt to new circumstances and perhaps develop new communities that can come to know the love of Jesus you all experience already.

I thank you for the way you have welcomed and included Mike and me in your community. We will certainly miss you all. Amen