Hunworth/Brinton 09-06-02
The Call of St. Matthew (Mt. 9:9-13 and 18-26)
Story: From 1987 to 1990, the ministry of television evangelists (popularly referred to in the press and the televangelists) in the USA was brought into disrepute by the revelation of a string of frauds, mismanagement of funds and infidelities.
The first scandal to break – and probably the most infamous - was that of Jim and Tammy Baaker’s PTL ministry – PTL - standing for Praise The Lord -followed by the fall of Jimmy Swaggart. The press quickly renamed the PTL ministry as “Pass the Loot” ministry.
In 1986 PTL’s income was $129 million and included Heritage USA - a 2300-acre religious theme park, a hotel and a shopping mall in North Carolina and its own TV station on 1200 channels.
Jim Baaker had an affair with the church secretary Jessica Hahn in 1980 and resigned in 1987, when it came to light that he had paid her about $265,000 in blackmail money over the affair.
After his resignation, Baaker asked Jerry Falwell to take over PTL. When Falwell began examining the accounts, he discovered that the Baakers had been taking large amounts of money from the ministry fund, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries for Baaker and his wife, insurance, property and other fees.
The US Inland Revenue Service investigated the accounts and they discovered that the couple had diverted $4.8 million for personal use.
Part of that sum came from fraudent $1,000 partnerships, which secured each partner three days per year of free lodging at the hotel in Heritage USA.
However Baaker took the money for so many partners that it was a promise that he was unable to keep. Indeed the fraud was on such a scale that it was estimated that about 1500 people a month were being defrauded of their free time-share
Jim Baaker was indicted for fraud in 1988 and sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $500,000.
When the scandal broke, Baaker’s Christian friends quickly deserted him. He became an outcast in the Christian world. And when he was sentenced, his wife Tammy Faye left him and then divorced him.
Six months into his sentence, Baaker was surprised one afternoon when the prison governor called him into his office. Baaker had a visitor: Billy Graham.
When Graham came in, Baaker asked him why he had come to visit – because he knew that any association with Baaker would tarnish Graham’s reputation.
Graham replied that Baaker was his friend in good and in bad times – and now when things were bad, he would stand by his side. And Billy Graham was true to his word.
Baaker’s sentence was eventually reduced, on
appeal, to ten years and when he came out of prison on parole, he had nowhere to stay.
So the Grahams invited him to stay with them.
On the Sunday following Baaker’s release, Ruth Graham took him to church with her.
Disregarding what people would think about her, she stood up in church and introduced Jim Baaker to the congregation as her friend Jim Baaker.
The Grahams showed a real Christ-like love to Jim Baaker very much on par with love Jesus showed to tax collectors like Matthew who he called into his inner circle of friends in this morning’s Gospel reading - Mt. 9:9-13.
In the same way as Baaker was an outcast in the Christian community in the USA in the 80’s and 90’s, so Matthew the tax collector would have been an outcast in the eyes of the Jewish community.
Yet Jesus was prepared to call Matthew his friend.
Background
Tax collectors in those days were seen as traitors for two reasons.
Firstly, they were working for the hated oppressors – the Romans – collecting taxes. A bit like the collaborators in France in the Second World War.
Secondly they generally had become very rich by setting exorbitant tax rates - far in excess of what Rome required. And they enforced payment by using the Roman army.
Three things strike me about the call of Matthew
1. No one is beyond the pail.
2. Matthew’s immediate and wholehearted commitment
3. Matthew used his home to bring people, who normally would not have associated with a Jewish Rabbi to meet Jesus.
The important message of this morning’s Gospel passage is that "no one is too bad for the Grace of God".
Jesus summed up his ministry admirably in Mt. 9:13
"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”"
The Gospel is for those who know that they are sinners – that they need forgiveness.
Matthew the hated tax collector was chosen by Jesus to become one of his inner circle of friends.
No one is beyond the pail.
2. The second thing that struck me from the Gospel reading today was Matthew’s immediate and wholehearted commitment
Following Christ is not always an easy thing, when we are required to give up some of our comforts.
Story: When God called me to become a clergyman in the Anglican Church – I wrestled with that calling.
I asked myself the question - could I afford to give up my comfortable and prestigious job and survive on a vicar’s salary - with a wife and three growing boys? Eventually I said yes but it was a struggle.
But Matthew, to his eternal credit, simply said yes and did not look back.
He was prepared to give up everything to follow Christ.
As Jim Eliot – a missionary who was killed in South America in the late 50’s said: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”
Contrast Matthew’s response with that of the rich young upright Jewish man in Mt 19: 16-22 who asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus called him to give up all his wealth and follow Jesus – the Scripture records his response:
"When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth." (Mt. 19:22).
There is nothing wrong in having money – it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.
3. The third thing that struck me from our Gospel reading this morning is that Matthew used his home to introduce people to Jesus. He threw a party for Jesus. He invited people who would not have normally associated with a Jewish Rabbi to meet Jesus.
Matthew was generous and opened his house to host a party for Jesus. As he was a social outcast the only folk who would come to his house would have been other tax collectors and “sinners” – a euphemism in Jewish circles for the morally suspect – such as publicans and prostitutes.
Matthew is referred to in Mark’s Gospel (e.g. Mk. 2:14) as Levi, son of Alpheus and it is likely that one of the other apostles, James son of Alpheus was his brother. I wonder if James met Jesus through Matthew’s introduction - at that party.
Matthew invited his friends and business colleagues to have supper with Jesus.
Surely that is a challenge for us today – to use our homes to introduce our family and friends to Jesus in a non-threatening way.
I think this is one of the reasons that the Alpha course has been so effective. It introduces Jesus around a meal in someone’s home.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, three things struck me from the Gospel reading this morning about the call of Matthew.
Firstly no one is too bad for the grace of God.
Secondly Matthew was willing to follow Christ, cost what it may. Tradition tells us that Matthew ministered in Ethiopia and was martyred. His response to the call of Jesus was total.
Thirdly Mathew had a missionary heart. He was willing to introduce Jesus to his friends and neighbours and to use his home to do so.
I believe that God’s challenge to us this morning is for
i. a total commitment to the call of Christ and
ii. a heart for mission.
For these are two important requirements for a true disciple of Christ. Amen
