Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 8, 2008 - Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Hosea 6:3-6; Romans 4:18-25; Matthew 9:9-13]Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.
In campus ministry (and I'm sure that it comes up in other venues) I have often met a student who has stopped going to church because "They're all hypocrites!" When I ask what he or she means by that, their reply is usually that the lifestyle or business conduct of this or that person or persons in the congregation does not reflect what is going on in the church on Sunday or vice versa. In short, the student has confronted one of the core problems of faith - we are a church of very imperfect people. Sinners abound! The student might be surprised or indignant if I read the passage today and asked if he or she considered himself or herself to be among the Pharisees or among the tax collectors and sinners with whom Jesus sat and ate? A major concern of the Old Testament prophets (including Hosea today) was the disconnection between ritual religion and ethical conduct. There are constant references to those who offer elaborate sacrifices and oppress the poor, the widow, the orphan or the alien. Jesus refers directly to Hosea when he responds to the Pharisees in today's gospel scripture. I would have to say to the student that indeed there are all kinds of sinners in the congregation on Sunday - ministers and pew-persons alike. They, including that student, are also all in need of mercy! Those who avoid the obligation to render praise and thanks to God as a member of Christ's Body (the student) and those who avoid the obligations of justice and moral conduct (almost all of us, including the student) must understand that these are two sides of one coin, as it were. Christ came to call sinners - those who do not go to church and those who do. He calls us to integrity of purpose and identity. The celebration of the Eucharist on Sunday is the moment when we are supported by one another and fed by the Word of God to accomplish the same ministry that the Word of God accomplished. A serious "disconnect" between Sunday worship and Monday justice is a good reason for God's mercy, but it is also a challenge to us all to reduce or eliminate that disconnection. We can count on God's mercy but we should not receive it in vain! AMEN
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