2026 06 07 - Jesus Calls Sinners...and He Makes them Righteous - Tews

Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. I want you guys to think in your head and visualize a wedding reception. Maybe it's your own, or maybe it's one you've been to. Maybe you've never experienced this yourself, but I'm sure you've all heard of those times when there's gossip and drama of those people who dared to show up.

And in our Gospel reading today, we have two groups that probably viewed each other in that light. You have the tax collectors and the sinners. You have the Pharisees. But something that I want you to keep in mind as we go through this text is that they're both there at the table with Christ.

And thinking of weddings, it also recalls to mind a couple other stories in Matthew that we get from Jesus. One of the 10 virgins who are going to the wedding feast, five bring enough oil, five don't. Or perhaps of the wedding feast where the guests who were invited refused to come and the servants were sent out to call anyone and everyone that would come to join them. So in this regard, we see groups of people that are not in line with one another, and we have that in our text as well. Now, the question that probably is first in your mind is, well, who's worthy to come to the table with Jesus?

Or why does he invite them? But first I want to think about, why is Jesus there at their table? Because, remember, it says in our text, jesus reclined at table in the house. It's not his house, it's not his table. And yet he's the central focus of this passage.

And so, in the same regard for all of us, when we come to church, when we come forward to receive Christ's body and blood at his table, did Jesus himself build this altar?

No. It was built by the hands of one of the charter members of the congregation.

So when we think about, why are the tax collectors and sinners at this table with Jesus, it's not by anything they do. Even though we might be tempted to look at the calling of Matthew just before it and think he rose and followed him simply at Jesus, saying, follow me. Is it because Matthew followed him that he was invited to this table or any of the other tax collectors?

No. Is it because of anything we do that we're invited to come to the altar and receive his gifts? No, it's because Jesus is there. And so then the question, why is Jesus there? Well, he gives us that answer.

Jesus is there to heal the sick, to make the sinner righteous. And, you know, the Pharisees who are sitting there, it's hard to grasp for them. And, you know, it's understandable the position they were in. They worked so hard to try to make themselves holy before God by keeping his law. That was their focus, was the law and their own works.

And so they questioned Jesus, why do you have these tax collectors and sinners here with you? Why do you eat with them?

And, you know, as lcms, Lutherans, it's easy for us to identify with the tax collectors, the sinners. You know, we start service with a confession of our own sins.

But the part that's hard for us is to realize that we too act like the Pharisees. Sometimes it's uncomfortable because of all the other places in the Gospels where Jesus teaches against their works of the law, you know, and when we do this, it might be over disagreements, as simple as, you know, what food to serve at a church function, or it might be at a budget meeting or in a call committee. It might be resentment for the people that go to the other service.

Laugh, too. It's okay.

But when we do this, when we think of fellow Christians as sinners, it makes us forget that we too are sinful. We're all at the same table. And in that light, we're acting like the Pharisees. So why are the Pharisees there then? Well, it's for their own benefit.

They might be there to try and catch Jesus off guard or to. To ask him a question that he can't answer. We see that in other parts of the Gospels, but he has them in all of those places for their benefit. I want to read for you two verses from John 12. Nevertheless, many, even of the authorities believed in him.

But for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. For they love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. We know that some Pharisees believed in Jesus. We get that after the resurrection, or we see it with Nicodemus going to them. And so even though we tend to look at them as, oh, that's the example of don't want to do that.

And that's right, he's talking to them for their own benefit, and he does the same for us.

So then the question becomes, well, what do we do with this? At this point, we've identified that we're sinners and in need of forgiveness. We identify that sometimes we let comparison with others get the best of us and we act like the Pharisees. But what are we supposed to do with all of this?

Well, the beginning of this text and the end of it go really well together. You know, he tells the Pharisees, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. He's actually quoting the last verse of our Old Testament reading from Hosea, using a slightly different word for mercy instead of loving kindness. But it's the same meaning.

And in this, you know, you might wonder, well, what do you mean? You don't. You don't desire sacrifice? Well, it's not that he doesn't desire sacrifice. It's the focus of where our works come from.

Is it from ourselves or is it from him? If we view what we do as Christians as our own sacrifice, well, then it's going to turn inward on ourselves and focus on what we do. But if mercy comes first, or from the Old Testament reading, if loving kindness comes first, sacrifice follows that.

Anybody that's a parent knows that you sacrifice for your kids.

And so what's there for us to do? Well, we look back at the beginning. Matthew was called by Jesus. He was sitting in the tax collector booth. He's one of those sinners.

And Jesus calls him. And I want to connect this with us in the other two accounts in the Gospels of Matthew's calling. They tell us that Matthew was called Levi. Matthew is the name Jesus gave him when he called him. Matthew doesn't even want to remember his former name.

Where do we receive a name from Christ? In baptism, where Christ gives you his own name of the Holy Trinity, places it on you and marks you as one who is redeemed. And in that way, we then are able to go and do what he says here, go and show mercy. For we can't do it by ourselves. We're incapable.

We confess that in the creed.

So then what are we to do? Then how do we show this mercy? Is it some kind of grandiose example of converting everyone we know? Is it going out and doing like in the Acts, selling everything we own, having all things in common? It can look like that for some people, if that's your calling from God.

But that's not what he's saying to do. It's showing mercy from the inside out. He calls us to serve him in our own vocations. And that starts central with family, our vocations as husband or wife, mom, dad, son, daughter, and then goes out from there. Student, employee or manager, neighbor, friend.

That's who we're called to show mercy to. And when we do sacrifice follows.

It's not bad to sacrifice things. We're called to do that. But that's not where our focus is. Because the things that we do aren't from us, they're from Christ.

And so to wrap up this text, when you come, when Jesus meets you at his altar and at his table, remember that it's Christ who comes. Christ who invites you, makes you righteous, that you can go from here and serve others.

Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.