"Follow Me, the Doctor of Mercy" (Sermon on Matthew 9:9-13)

In the Holy Gospel for today, Jesus calls Matthew to follow him and be his disciple. Jesus calls him, even though Matthew was looked down upon as an obvious sinner. But Jesus is the great physician who has mercy on those who are sick with sin. And so, as Jesus calls us today also, he says to each one of us, “Follow Me, the Doctor of Mercy.”

We know Matthew as St. Matthew the Apostle. But that’s not how he started out. For he had something in common with quite a few pastors these days: He was a “second-career man” in the ministry. The thing is, though, Matthew’s first career was somewhat unsavory. He was a tax collector, a “publican,” as it was called. Of course, the Jews back in Matthew’s day probably called him a few other choice names besides. For a tax collector was one of the most despised persons around. In public opinion polls, “tax collector” would have been way down at the bottom of the list.

Now tax collectors are never popular. For one thing, they take away your money. But the tax collectors of that day were hated for two more reasons: a) They often were corrupt, charging too much, so they could line their own pockets, and b) The taxes they were collecting were for the Romans, the foreign power occupying Israel. So the tax collectors were seen as collaborators, those who cozied up to the enemy for their own advantage. Well, that’s how Matthew the tax collector would have been viewed. No question, he was a sinner! That was easy to see. And the Pharisees liked to point that sort of thing out.

The Pharisees had no problem spotting sinners--except when it came to themselves. Now how about you? If you’re anything like me, you’re better at pointing out sin in others than in yourself. But if we look into the mirror of God’s law, we see that, like Matthew, we too are sinners. Oh, we may not have a tax booth, but inside each of us there is a “take booth”: Take whatever I can get to satisfy myself. Take the gifts God has given me and use them for myself. Take from others whatever they can do for me. This is the “take booth” that you and I are sitting at. The symptoms of our sinfulness may not be as obvious as they were in Matthew’s case, but the underlying disease is still the same.

Matthew sitting at his tax booth, you and I sitting at our “take booth”--but to sinners like Matthew and like us, Jesus comes with a gracious invitation. As our text says: “As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him.”

Clean and crisp and powerful the call comes. The initiative is all with Jesus. He chooses his disciples. We don’t choose him. The essential and decisive thing is his gracious call. It’s not because of anything in us that Jesus calls us. It’s because of something in him: his divine mercy and grace.

Jesus not only calls sinners, he also eats with them: “And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’”

The Pharisees were shocked that Jesus would break bread with a houseful of Matthews. But he did. It’s not that there’s anything virtuous or noble about tax collectors and sinners. There isn’t. The point is that God’s grace is deep enough to deal with their sin. He forgives our sin and calls us to repentance and faith and a new way of life.

Jesus welcomes sinners. Our Lord is not ashamed to have fellowship, table fellowship, with the likes of you and me. Every time the Lord’s Supper is offered here in this house, Jesus invites us to eat and drink at his table. At this table he gives you his body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

Matthew and you and I--we all share the same sickness. It’s called sin, and it is a chronic, terminal illness. But thank God, we also all go to the same doctor, namely, Jesus himself. Jesus says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” And Jesus is that physician, the doctor who cures our illness and works our healing. Jesus is known by many titles: “Lamb of God,” “Prince of Peace,” “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” Well, there’s one more title we could add to the list: “M.D., Doctor of Mercy.” His mercy is the healing balm that brings comfort and relief to our sin-sick souls. That is why this Sacrament is called “the medicine of immortality,” because it will give life to our dying bodies.

Suppose for a moment that there was a brilliant physician who founded a hospital. What’s more, this doctor’s personal efforts developed the very effective medicine that the hospital uses. The medicine is based on a rare antibody found in the doctor’s own blood. Still today he constantly donates blood with which to make new batches of the medicine. Every drop of the medicine used in treatment gives the patient, as it were, a transfusion of the physician’s blood. Therefore the hospital and its patients live in ongoing dependence on the founder for life itself.

In this story, the church is the hospital, a hospital for sinners. We are those sinners, the patients. And Christ is the doctor who established the hospital and continues to give life to the patients. Just as the medicine has healing power because it is made from the founding doctor’s own blood, so the blessed Sacrament applies to us, again and again, the very blood of Christ, which makes us whole.

Speaking of medical care, some in our country have called for “free universal health care.” Of course, what they don’t tell you is that it is never free. Somebody’s got to pay for it. And so you and I would end up paying a lot more at the tax collector’s booth.

But with the “free universal health care” that Jesus, the Doctor of Mercy, provides, it is truly free. Absolutely free to you. A free gift, all by grace. Of course, there was a price, there was a cost, and somebody had to pay it. The good news is, Jesus paid it all for you! Christ paid the full cost for you on the cross. By his wounds, we are healed. You are fully covered, and your coverage comes to you free of charge. No co-pay required.

The care Christ provides is free, and it is universal. Everyone is covered. The Son of God paid the price for all sinners, everywhere, for all time, with his holy precious blood. Everyone is covered; no one is left out. And the care that the Doctor of Mercy provides gives you healing for your soul, in the forgiveness of your sins, and ultimate healing for your body, at the resurrection of the dead.

Yes, Jesus is the Doctor of Mercy. So far, we’ve been using the word “doctor” in the sense of “physician.” But there’s another way we can call Jesus “doctor.” That’s in the sense of “expert teacher.” Jesus is the teacher of his disciples. He also wanted to teach the Pharisees the lesson of mercy, but they would not listen. He says: “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus is the Doctor of Mercy for us as his disciples. He is our expert teacher. Not only do we need him as our physician, but Jesus also is our example and instructor in dealing mercifully with others. Like the original disciples, we too have been called by Jesus to follow him, both in receiving mercy and in extending mercy to others.

We extend God’s mercy to others by our Christian witness. We tell our friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors about the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. The refreshing mercy that we have discovered in the gospel, we do not keep to ourselves. We share it with others. We invite other thirsty souls to join us in receiving God’s mercy in Christ.

We also extend mercy to others by our acts of Christian kindness. We don’t think of ourselves more highly than we ought, but in humility we serve our neighbor in love. We don’t look down our noses in smug superiority at those still caught in the web of sin. We recognize that we too are sinners. We realize that the only reason we are anybody is by the mercy of God. Forgiveness is the gift of God by which we live, and it is forgiveness, then, which we practice and extend toward others. As disciples, we follow Jesus in extending God’s mercy to sinful people, even those who sin against us.

Jesus is the Doctor of Mercy. “Doctor,” in the sense of the Great Physician for sinners. “Doctor,” as the expert teacher of disciples. Both are true. My friends, fellow sinners and fellow disciples, the good news today is this: The doctor is in! Your appointment is now. The bill has already been paid for. Come, receive the medicine of immortality! “Follow me,” Jesus is calling out to you today. “Follow me, the Doctor of Mercy.”

“M.D., Doctor of Mercy.”

I'm a real stickler for details. The professional credentials everyone should be on the lookout for is DO.

DO stands for doctor of osteopathic medicine. They use the same conventional medical techniques as MDs but with a few other methods. DOs tend to focus more on holistic health and prevention. In holistic health, all parts of a person, including their mind, body, and emotions, are considered during the treatment.
https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/difference-between-md-and-do

The Redeemer's is a real "Can DO" mindset that takes tender mercy and compassion to a whole other level. People can really learn from him, to follow his methodology -- to listen, learn, and then go and DO likewise. Not any time or desire left for ego. Everyone really will have something better to DO.

Besides all of that,

osteo- +‎ -pathic

osteo- Combining form of Ancient Greek ὀστέον (ostéon, “bone”).

There is an interesting detail in the "ὀστέον" Wiktionary entry above. Now typically, when an ancient Greek (or Hebrew) word had been used in the Bible, its Strong's concordance number will be linked in the 'references' section.

Take "kingdom", for example:

The page for βασιλεία links to G932.

The page for מלכות links to H4438

Which brings me back to the interesting detail on the "ὀστέον" page.

"Further Reading" links to G4536:

πρόσληψις próslēpsis, pros'-lape-sis; from G4355; admission:—receiving.
a receiving: into the kingdom of God
Strong's Number G4356 matches the Greek πρόσλημψις (proslēmpsis), which occurs 1 times in 1 verses in the TR Greek.
Rom 11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving G4356 of them be, but life from the dead?

How did that happen? What kind of connection is that to bones, anyway?

bones: The framework or foundation of something.

(The term associated with Joseph is yesod, meaning "foundation".)

Genesis 50:25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
Exodus 13:19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.
Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones...

"DO"

I could go on with the word plays, but that 2-letter word really encapsulates the whole shebang (archaic for a temporary shelter). 🤔

OCD tends to be a derogatory term, but then when it turns out to stand for

Observe
Connect
DO

Everyone suddenly will want to climb aboard. 🚀

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