Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 – Second Sunday after Pentecost
Introduction
We’ve spent a long while away from the narrative in Matthew. The Easter season through Holy Trinity is often all over the place and does little to focus on the themes of the Synoptic Gospel of the year. So, because of that, it’s easy to jump into a text like the one we have this week and ignore where it falls in the context of the Gospel and why Matthew is introducing this story.
So, I’d like to set that context for us today and really lean into the tension of it all.
Context
Our text today is a continuation of a long line of interactions that immediately happen after the Sermon on the Mount. To read this Gospel text today as an isolated story would miss a massive movement happening in chapters 8 and 9.
Like Matthew chapter 1, this section is supposed to stir up Matthew’s audience (especially the Jewish listeners) to see Jesus not just speaking to the worthy people of Israel, but to those who are deemed unclean and even an occupying gentile soldier (centurion). The first seven chapters of the Gospel are not without their scandal, but they are mostly a familiar setup and homage to the traditions of Israel (recollections of Moses and the prophets). Although Jesus challenges and reinterprets law and tradition, even the Sermon on the Mount is mostly familiar conversation that illustrates pharisaical/rabbinical argument and interpretation at that time.
But as Jesus comes down from the Sermon on the Mount, he is immediately thrust into encounter after encounter that might shock traditional readers: 1) Healing a leper, 2) healing a centurion’s servant, 3) healing Peter’s mother-in-law and others, 4) Stilling the storm, 5) Healing the Gadarenes/Gerasene demoniacs, 6) Healing the paralytic, 6) Calling Matthew the tax collector, 7) Eating with tax collectors and sinners, 8) Debating with Pharisees over fasting, 9) Healing the woman suffering from hemorrhages… 10) …while on the way to raise the daughter of a leader of the synagogue from the dead, 11) Healing two blind men, 12) Healing a mute man.
R. Alan Culpepper writes, “This section provides examples of the in-breaking of the kingdom through Jesus’ works. The persons whom Jesus heals represent the social spectrum: a leper, a centurion’s servant, a family member of his in-group, the Gadarenes, a “leader” (archon, 9:18), and an unclean woman. Jesus’ compassion crosses social boundaries. His power overcomes even the most debilitating illnesses (blindness and paralysis, conditions that made one totally dependent on others), the most socially isolating (leprosy and hemorrhaging), the most powerful (the Gadarene demoniacs), and the most extreme (death).”[1]
Culpepper is highlighting the incredible deeds of power. And in many ways, that could be the focus of these two chapters. There is nothing that Jesus cannot “choose” to do (8:2-3). His power and authority are beyond reproach. However, to leave it at a display of power, ignores the shock of these encounters. I don’t think Culpepper goes far enough regarding the scandal of these encounters. Jesus isn’t just crossing social boundaries a little, he’s shattering them.
Each of these interactions has some scandal in it. And today’s text is exploding with scandal.
First, Jesus calls Matthew, the tax collector. Tradition has often told us that this Gospel is attributed this Matthew the tax collector. That is not certain, but it adds an interesting narrative emphasis to this short section. Culpepper writes, “Levi/Matthew was probably not a publican, a holder of the tax contract, but someone employed by him.”[2]
According to John Donahue, “The tolls and numerous other tariffs were probably at this time auctioned off to the highest bidder, so that ho telōnēs [Matt 9:10-11; Mark 2:15-16] is probably a toll collector and not a tax collector… The collection of customs at travel points such as Capernaum would have been the responsibility of the telonai.”[3]
Toll collectors were scorned by the community and by religious leaders and regarded as unclean and immoral at the time (according to the Mishnah).
Culpepper writes, “The call of the tax collector complements the teachings on discipleship in the preceding verses (see 4:18-22). According to Matthew, the disciples “followed” Jesus into the boat to cross to the other side (8:23). The term “to follow” (akolouthein) also occurs in 8:19 and 22. The theme of crossing the boundary of clean-unclean continues as Jesus moves from the encounter with the Gadarene demoniacs to a dinner with ‘tax collectors and sinners.’… ‘Tax collectors and sinners’ sounds like a stock phrase, but it occurs in Matthew only here and in 11:19 (cf. Mark 2:15-16; Luke 5:30; 7:34; 15:1-2). ‘Sinners’ is a general reference to the incorrigibly wicked, gentiles and non-observant Jews (cf. 9:2-8).”[4]
So, I introduce all of this because it then adds emphasis to the boundary crossing of our next section. In the middle of our text today, Jesus heals a woman suffering from hemorrhages while he is on the way to heal the daughter of the leader of the synagogue. Between these two characters in need of the power of Jesus, we have the tension of urgency, worthiness of attention, respectability, and purity/impurity. Ultimately Jesus will heal both, blurring each of these lines (healing the leader’s daughter by touching a corpse without being ritually cleaned himself after having been touched by the woman suffering from hemorrhages). With the woman, Jesus calls her “daughter.” “Daughter” also links her to the synagogue leader’s daughter. By recognizing her, Jesus gives the ostracized woman status and inclusion.
There is textual debate as to whether Matthew would have included Mark’s “of the synagogue” to describe the leader or if the father is just a civic leader of the community. I am inclined to believe that Matthew would have leaned into the tension and included the “synagogue” reference based on the trajectory of these two chapters.
It is a shame that we don’t ever hear all of chapters 8 and 9 in one reading, because I believe that is how it would be most effectively shared. The rapid encounters (each more scandalous than the next for completely different reasons) suggests that Matthew is trying to move his community to envision a wider Kingdom. With so many encounters in a row, Matthew is quickly drawing a line in the sand, “If you’re worried about the wideness of the Kingdom, get over it. Because it’s just going to get wider.”
Preaching Possibilities
Scandal for whom?
We only push forward in the Gospel of Matthew throughout this summer and never track back to these other encounters. While there is plenty going on in these two short encounters for us to cover in our sermons, I really want to stress the importance of what Matthew is doing. He has each of these, one after another, to add emphasis and to overwhelm the listener/hearer. Just when we’re about to say, “How could Jesus eat with them?” Jesus is on to heal or feed or call the next person and the next person and the next person, who all make us uncomfortable in some way.
Now, there is a possibility for us to preach about redirecting “sinner” language here. We can talk about who has been left outside of the community. Who are those, like the hemorrhaging woman, who have been ostracized from the community? We can speak to and lift up the LGBTQ+ community. We can speak to the anti-trans legislation that has targeted our siblings in Christ. We can talk about the inclusion that Jesus desires and how that’s illustrated so beautifully in this section. This would be a good use of this text and would be good for our current time, especially if your church is celebrating Pride this Sunday.
And still… Matthew pushes us farther today.
The brilliance of this whole section of Matthew is that it should offend each and every one of us when we think about who all these people are in relation to today. “Tax collector” is such a common phrase in the church that we don’t stop to think about who that means for us today. We just like to throw around, “Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners and we should do the same!” But who would that actually be?
If we’re being true to who a tax collector would be, we have to ask, who are those who have been exploiting and profiting off of others in our communities?
This means that today, Jesus would welcome those who have been gauging prices during the pandemic and exploiting the most underprivileged communities. This means that Jesus would welcome corrupt officials, CEO’s, and bankers. This means that Jesus would welcome those who just voted to cut and restrict food programs for the most needy in the most recent debt ceiling agreement. Before we go lifting up our “All are welcome” signs this Sunday, are we ready to sit down with THESE tax collectors and break bread with them…as Jesus did? That is the tension that Matthew wants us to wrestle with in this section. That is the tension that is confronting us in this text, if we’re willing to sit with it.
There is more than just the “obvious” scandal in this text. Each of us has someone that we would exclude. And if we say differently, then we’re not being honest with ourselves.
How do we reconcile the scandal of Jesus’ inclusive welcome to ALL people… even those who we leave outside the door?
[1] R. Alan Culpepper, Matthew, 163.
[2] Culpepper, 182.
[3] John R Donahue, “Tax Collectors and Sinners,” CBQ 33 (1971), 45.
[4] Culpeper, 183.
Want to receive these Weekly Commentaries by email each week? Subscribe to the email list by clicking the link: http://eepurl.com/isCZjA
Micah Krey 
Leave a comment