Meditation for 15 July 2009

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

Mark 2:13-17

 

13 Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. ¹⁴As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

15 And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ ¹⁷When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

Church Isn’t For the Righteous

 

In the years I have been a priest, from time to time I have heard this type of comment:  “God can’t forgive me.  I have messed up way too much.  I have done some things that are just too bad, which can’t be forgiven.”  The variations of this comment go something like this:  “I couldn’t go to church during that time of my life.  I was depressed.  (Or – I was too angry at God.  Or – I was going through a divorce then.  Or – I liked to party too much back then.)

 

Sometimes people have the impression that church is a place where you come when you “have it all together”, or after you’ve “cleaned up your act”.  When we take this line of reasoning and really run with it, we can also come to the conclusion that clergy are “super holy” - they never cuss or think mean thoughts or offend others or sin in any way.  (Ha!  If you are tempted to think that about your clergy, just talk to their family members, or keep coming to church…)

 

You’ve probably noticed that there isn’t a sign on the doors to St. Ambrose that says, “Enter here if you are holy and righteous and have not sinned during the past week.”  Are we called to become more holy, to become more like Jesus?  Yes.  But that is very different from saying that you must be holy to join us in worship.

 

Another point:  we cannot declare ourselves righteous any more than we can make ourselves righteous.  Both the righteousness-declaring process and the holiness-making process are of God.  Because of Christ’s sacrifice and deep, deep love for us, we are forgiven and declared righteous by God.  As we have been hearing in Eucharistic Prayer B lately, in Jesus God has “made us worthy to stand before you” – that is, God.  God “makes us right”, reconciles us to God through the love and sacrifice of Jesus, when we acknowledge our sin and our falling short of who God calls us to be.  And because of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, working in and on and through us, we can grow into holiness… grow into the full stature of Christ.  This growing-into-holiness thing is a lifetime project, though, and if we are looking for evidence of someone being holy, we should be looking for signs that he or she is growing in his/her capacity to love - to sit with and be present to and love any person, anytime, in any place, no matter who it is – period.

 

Sort of like Jesus eating and hanging out with the sinners and tax collectors – the “unholy” ones.  Jesus hangs out with us, too.  He invites us to come to him in prayer, in worship, in the sacrament of bread and wine, and when we come, he doesn’t say, “Oh no, you can’t come in.  You’re not worthy.  You’re not holy enough.”  Just the opposite, in fact, for the Great Physician came to call not the righteous, but sinners.  And that means there is no time in your life, no condition that you are in, no situation at all where you will not be welcomed by our Lord with open arms.  And that, of course, says something about how you and I should approach anyone who walks in the church door on Sunday morning, or on any other day of the week.

 

We come to church as we are.  And our Lord is the One who welcomes us, and declares us righteous.  Church isn’t for the righteous and holy.  (And that’s why the one line in “This Train Is Bound for Glory” – i.e., “Don’t carry nothin’ but the righteous and holy” – isn’t exactly the best theology, though I like the tune!)  No, church isn’t for the righteous.  And that’s’ really good news!