THIS IS A SERMON PREACHED 21st SEPTEMBER AT ST.PADARNS
There is a story about a priest who was ill and in hospital. A Churchwarden came to see the priest to cheer them up. The Churchwarden expressed his concern and said that the night before at the Church council they had passed a vote to wish the priest a good and speedy recovery. This was a rather strange thing to do but encouraging, the Church council was behind their leader. The Churchwarden said, however the vote was only passed with 13 votes to 12.
A little humbling perhaps ! In our gospel reading we heard of the call of Matthew the tax collector. Jesus clearly wasn’t bothered about being popular with his new followers as He called a tax collector. Matthew as a tax collector was working for Rome, the occupying force. It was not a great job to gain friends. After all, we all groan a bit around tax people, or people who just seem to understand money - maybe that’s just me !
For Matthew, also known as Levi, he would have a double whammy of dislike as he was the one who not only collected the money, but did it for the much less than popular Roman authority.
One of my favourite bits about the call of Matthew, is that he just gets up and follows straight away. This is amazing, Imagine that you were sat in Church and someone stood up and explained how they had met Jesus and jumped up and followed Him straight away. If you were feeling positive and very happy you might think - oh, that’s great. If you were a little more cynical you might be thinking, um:not sure it was that easy, there must have been more to it than that. Maybe you might think, I wish my turning to Jesus and my call was as instant and dramatic as that.
I will rest assured in the fact that maybe if Jesus walked right by and called I would be so overawed I would just follow.
The problem is though, that I think we can all hear and know God is calling us but we just don’t want to take the leap. I will admit that no matter how long you have known me for, or not, you will probably have heard my story of someone who trained with me. He used to turn to me and say, “I don’t know how I ended up here, I am a gardener not someone training to be ordained.” I would explain, that he really was training and it was ok. He would shake his head and say that he didn’t think God had got it right. This person is a fantastic priest. Was it his humility ? Was it his almost disbelief ? No. God called him and it was a surprise but he just followed.
I wonder if Matthew thought, yes, of course I was going to get called to follow Jesus. Or whether he was so shocked he just jumped up and followed. We can never know but he heard Jesus call and he responded.
The fact that you are here training shows that you have heard God call, you have responded and in this time with us you are continuing in exploring a vocation that the Church has said it was worth pursuing.
I remember that when I realised my call at 17 I couldn’t work out why. I was very well behaved, my life was centred around God but I looked at my green doctor marten boots and thought, oh well here we go. I was a little uncertain, but I answered.
At the age of 13 I had said that I would never work in the Church in Wales, I would never be a priest (women couldn’t be ordained priests then ) and I would never marry a Vicar, I am ordained and so is my husband.
I think one of the biggest problems that gets In the way of us responding to God and His call is us not being sure. A little uncertain.
Our calling to ministry isn’t our first calling, our first calling is to a relationship with God. Now, Matthew by following Jesus was following a new way of being and believing. From being well paid with job security he became unemployed following an itinerant preacher. You can just imagine his parents sharing that news !
This wasn’t all though, after the call Jesus had dinner with tax collectors and sinners. Poor Matthew, not only had he given up his job but now people who did his old job were having dinner with Jesus. We can only assume that Matthew was there as well. You can imagine, “oh Matthew you used to be rich like us, didn’t you ?” As if that wouldn’t have been bad enough the Pharisees questioned the disciples, which Matthew was now part of and asked them why Jesus was eating with such people as sinners and tax collectors? Poor Matthew not only did he not have a job, but Jesus, who he now followed, was seen in a very bad light by respected religious leaders.
I feel for Matthew, he said yes and then he ended up suffering. I wish I could give you some good news now, but the fact that we are wearing red, shows that he was a martyr who died for his faith.
Before anyone thinks where am I going with this, it is that Matthew believed to have written the gospel in his name was ready not only to jump up but to keep following because he had met Jesus and he knew forgiveness and the gospel he wrote shows that he carried on because he knew that God was with him.
In the first chapter of the gospel we hear that Jesus would be known as Emmanuel meaning God is with us. Then at the end of the gospel Jesus told the disciples that He would be with them always. It almost doesn’t matter what happens when we know that God is with us. This doesn’t take away pain or our happiness. Matthew had to associate with people who really didn’t like him, people who killed him. But in the gospel he reminds us that the knowledge of God with us always is why we follow, it’s why we do what we do.
May we always know and believe that no matter what else, God is with us always. AMEN
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