A man bent over a parchment studies the ink stains that can never be wiped away, and knows that in his neighbours’ eyes he is exactly such a stain. Told in the voice of Matthew, the tax collector from Capernaum, this sermon leads to the moment when Jesus stops at his toll table and says only, “follow me” (Matthew 9). Along the way comes a hard question: why do people rejoice more over a healed body than over a repentant sinner? Listen if you have ever felt that your past has closed the road to God.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Matthew 9:9-13 the call of Matthew is described very briefly: Jesus says "Follow me" and he gets up and follows. What did this tax collector lose by choosing to get up from his tax booth?
- The Pharisees ask the disciples why their Teacher eats with tax collectors and sinners. According to the sermon, what was behind that question and behind the Pharisees' way of life as "the separated ones"?
- Jesus answers: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" and "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." What do these words reveal about how God sees people with a stained past?
- The sermon points out that people rejoice more when someone sick is healed than when a sinner repents. Where does that attitude come from, and where do you notice it in yourself?
- Matthew compares his life to parchment marked with ink stains that cannot be wiped away. How does Jesus' acceptance change the way you look at the stains of your own past?
- Who around you is treated today like "am haaretz", as someone lesser and rejected, and how can you show them mercy instead of keeping your distance this week?
