This was given at the Lynnville (IL) UMC on June 5, 2005. The primary Scripture is from chapter 9 of the Gospel of Matthew, verses 9-13 and 18-26…

       The family doctor that we chose when we moved to our farm in Edwardsville shared the building with an associate, and each covered for the other whenever one of them had to be absent for whatever reason. And so it was that on one occasion while in high school (after mom had instructed me to take my younger brother and get in to the doctor) that we chanced to see the associate.

       He was somewhat older than our regular doctor (though not by much), and had a different way of approaching various situations. On this particular occasion, I had been sick with a sore throat and cough for about two weeks, if I remember right… and the last few days had been worse than the first. After checking me all over, looking down my throat, in my ears, and up my nose, he looks at me and pronounces… “Son, you’ve been sick!”

       What I said was along the lines of, “Thanks! I didn’t know that!”… But what I was thinking was more like, “And this is what I came in to see and pay a doctor to tell me!” I might have quoted Jesus in this morning’s verses when he said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”

       Our verses this morning start off with the story of Jesus having dinner at Matthew’s house, and how “many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners”?’”

The Life Application Commentary tells us that… “The first part of Jesus’ answer was from a common proverb on the healthy and the sick. Those who are well do not seek out a physician; the physician’s waiting room is filled with those who are sick. They recognize their need and come to the one who can make them well. The physician, in turn, spends his time helping the sick get well.

Jesus then told these self-righteous Pharisees to go and learn what this means, implying that they did not understand their own Scriptures… The Pharisees thought they knew Scripture perfectly; Jesus told them to go back and study again the words of God spoken through the prophet Hosea, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’. Hosea’s words were not a blanket condemnation of the sacrificial system…in effect at the time; rather, God was condemning a thoughtless, mechanical approach to sacrifice. A religious ritual helps when carried out with an attitude of love for God. If a person’s heart is far from God, ritual will become empty mockery. God did not want the Israelites’ rituals; he wanted their hearts. Jesus challenged the Pharisees to apply Hosea’s words to themselves. …the “worship” of the religious leaders had become an empty… sacrifice… given without thought of God. God wants a heart attitude that includes a right relationship with him and with others, an attitude that reaches out to those in physical and spiritual need.”

Let me see if I can demonstrate what I mean… I recall an unplanned stop (while driving the ‘big-truck’ many years ago…) I once had to make in Columbus. I was having a problem with the truck lights, it was dark and raining, and I was running way behind what I had wanted to be. During the course of all of this, a young man comes up to me out of the dark with some story about trying to get to his new job in Memphis but he needed some money to feed his wife on the way. I blew him off! I didn’t have time to mess with the likes of him and his unlikely story! But as I drove on, thoughts of him haunted me… shouldn’t I have at least taken the time to find out if what he was saying was true? Not a very Christian way to be!

On the way back, another guy walked up to me at a rest stop and told how he had run the batteries down on his truck and asked for a jump. I was still very late and really anxious to get back home to finish getting this message ready… But the incident of the other evening still bothered me. I mean, are our Christian ideals merely words… or are we truly supposed to believe in and respond to them? I backed up my truck and helped him get his started.

This is what Jesus is referring to when He quotes Hosea… is our righteousness based on high-sounding words and rituals… or on actions? Is our Christianity based on what our fellow Christians have always ‘believed’… or on what Christ has taught us? 

In Genesis 12, verses 1-9, we read… “The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you,” and how, without hesitation, “Abram left, as the LORD had told him… Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.”

And in Romans 4, verses 13-25, Paul says that, even “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him… Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead… and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

Our verses from Matthew tell us the story of the ruler who had just lost his twelve-year-old daughter. The Gospel of Mark tells us that his name was Jairus, and that he was one of the lay-leaders of the local synagogue.  This man believed in Jesus and the power of God! We also read how a woman in the crowd… “who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” This woman believed in the power of God!

The Life Application Commentary tells us that, “In these two stories we find two people who sought Jesus out — Jairus on behalf of his daughter, and this woman for her incurable disease. Both came in faith, knowing that Jesus could take care of their particular problem. Jairus had already petitioned Jesus, and Jesus was on his way. This woman had heard about Jesus’ miracle-working power (apparently for the first time) and had come to Capernaum to find him. She worked her way through the crowd and came up behind Jesus. She believed that she only had to touch the edge of his cloak and she would be healed.”

Now, this woman didn’t understand all that there was to know about Jesus… but she knew enough to believe that He had the power to heal her… and that belief is what Jesus felt… and acted on!

My Commentary notes that… “Lots of people were touching Jesus that day, bumping against him, reaching out to shake his hand (or the equivalent), moving alongside the crowd. But one person touched him in faith. That person discovered Jesus’ healing power.”

Mere curiosity, merely following the crowd, or casually brushing up against Jesus does not represent the faith Jesus looks for, the faith he responds to.”

And what of Jairus? We can imagine him standing there taking all of this in and thinking… “Why are we stopping… what are you doing? My daughter is dead! We must hurry!” But at the same time he must have thought… “He’s healed her! With just a touch, he’s healed her! I know He can help my daughter as well!”

There is a song titled “The Promise” (I recommend the version of it  by the ‘Talley Trio’ on YouTube…) that tells of this story and declares how Jesus was the ‘promise coming down that dusty road!’ That promise was to Jairus and his daughter… it was to the scribes and Pharisees… indeed, it was a promise made to all peoples in all lands for all times! It was a promise that was made to you… and you… and you… and me!

It is a promise filled with hope and joy and goodwill for all… but it is a promise only offered to those who truly believe in Jesus as the Son of God… and who respond in that belief… not with empty sacrifices and repetitive, meaningless words and rituals… but in the loving, caring, and strengthening actions that reflect the love of Christ in each of us!

The Pharisees didn’t understand that. They wanted and were looking for a ruler… a king to lead them to victory… an earthly victory! Their faith was so small that they could only understand and believe in things that they could see and touch. The idea of the Messiah coming as a ‘doctor’ to heal and save sinners was just incomprehensible to them… because they were incapable of seeing themselves as such a sinner!

All of which leads us to this question… can a sinner be a Christian? I certainly hope so! ‘For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God!’ Well, then, let me ask you this… can a Christian be a sinner? Not ‘Should he be…’ but, ‘can he be’? Can a healthy person get sick? And if it’s serious enough, can’t even that healthy person die of some disease or illness? That’s what we have doctors for… and that’s why Jesus is sometimes referred to as ‘The Great Physician’!  And I promise you… He can heal anything that’s troubling you! All you have to do is consult Him… any time… any where… the ‘Doctor’ is always in!