felix culpa
I am so glad I am a sinner… well actually I am glad that I can admit I am a sinner, that I am here and God is there and that I know there is a good bit of space between the two of us that needs to be covered. It is exciting to know how much of me there is for God to work with and to change by means of Love and Grace.
I do not have to be afraid of the fact that I am a sinner. Christ tells us today that “he came to call not the righteous but sinners.” Christ came to call sinners, to call those separated from God, back to God. Every time you come into this church you acknowledge the fact that you are a sinner by saying the Confession. Today’s service started with the confession, when we have Holy Communion the Confession comes right before the Eucharistic prayers begin. Every time we say the Lord’s Prayer we ask that God “forgive us our trespasses”. Our liturgy and the prayer Christ himself taught us to pray have us say, “I am a sinner”.
We do not need to be afraid of our sinful nature… we need to acknowledge it. Once we say “I am a sinner” then Christ can begin to work within us. Its only after we recognize that there is a separation between us and God that Christ can come in and help us bridge that gap.
Today we see Christ reaching out to us, to the sinner. He reaches out to Matthew, the tax collector, and says “come follow me”. Unlike the other disciples Matthew does not have a reputable job, as a tax collector he makes his money extorting his fellow Jews. If a man owes the government $350 Matthew charges him $400 and pockets $50. What does Christ say but “follow me”. Yes Mathew is a sinner, no he has not been a good person, yet what does Christ want of him but that Matthew should be a disciple, an apostle, a leader of the church.
Does Christ avoid sinners? No, he sits and eats with them. He befriends them. Talks with them. And when someone wonders why is Christ eating with sinners does Christ act ashamed? No, Christ says that the whole reason he is here is to meet with, talk with, and be a friend to sinners. Christ chooses to be in the company of sinners.
This is a man whose mere presence makes a woman believe that if only she can touch his cloak she will be healed of a twelve-year hemorrhage. Not “if only Christ will bless me”, not “if only Christ will make eye contact with me” but “if only I can touch the outer most edge of his garment for the briefest of moments then I will be healed”. And what is it that Christ does but turns to her, a complete stranger, and calls her “daughter”. This woman was like all of us a sinner, she was a woman Christ had never met, and yet immediately Christ treats this sinner as his own flesh and blood.
A young girl is thought dead… the funeral party has already begun to gather. Christ walks into the room takes her by the hand and the girl gets up. We are sinners, we are dead in our sin. Christ has come into the world, to call us, to sit down and eat with us as a friend, to love us as a parent loves a children, to reach out his hand to us and bring us into life.
I am a sinner… I am glad that I can acknowledge that I am a sinner… I am glad I know that there is a separation between me and God. It gives me a chance to hear God’s Call, to be Christ’s friend, to be loved by God as God’s child, to be able to clasp God’s hand and be brought into life.
I do not have to be afraid of the fact that I am a sinner. Christ tells us today that “he came to call not the righteous but sinners.” Christ came to call sinners, to call those separated from God, back to God. Every time you come into this church you acknowledge the fact that you are a sinner by saying the Confession. Today’s service started with the confession, when we have Holy Communion the Confession comes right before the Eucharistic prayers begin. Every time we say the Lord’s Prayer we ask that God “forgive us our trespasses”. Our liturgy and the prayer Christ himself taught us to pray have us say, “I am a sinner”.
We do not need to be afraid of our sinful nature… we need to acknowledge it. Once we say “I am a sinner” then Christ can begin to work within us. Its only after we recognize that there is a separation between us and God that Christ can come in and help us bridge that gap.
Today we see Christ reaching out to us, to the sinner. He reaches out to Matthew, the tax collector, and says “come follow me”. Unlike the other disciples Matthew does not have a reputable job, as a tax collector he makes his money extorting his fellow Jews. If a man owes the government $350 Matthew charges him $400 and pockets $50. What does Christ say but “follow me”. Yes Mathew is a sinner, no he has not been a good person, yet what does Christ want of him but that Matthew should be a disciple, an apostle, a leader of the church.
Does Christ avoid sinners? No, he sits and eats with them. He befriends them. Talks with them. And when someone wonders why is Christ eating with sinners does Christ act ashamed? No, Christ says that the whole reason he is here is to meet with, talk with, and be a friend to sinners. Christ chooses to be in the company of sinners.
This is a man whose mere presence makes a woman believe that if only she can touch his cloak she will be healed of a twelve-year hemorrhage. Not “if only Christ will bless me”, not “if only Christ will make eye contact with me” but “if only I can touch the outer most edge of his garment for the briefest of moments then I will be healed”. And what is it that Christ does but turns to her, a complete stranger, and calls her “daughter”. This woman was like all of us a sinner, she was a woman Christ had never met, and yet immediately Christ treats this sinner as his own flesh and blood.
A young girl is thought dead… the funeral party has already begun to gather. Christ walks into the room takes her by the hand and the girl gets up. We are sinners, we are dead in our sin. Christ has come into the world, to call us, to sit down and eat with us as a friend, to love us as a parent loves a children, to reach out his hand to us and bring us into life.
I am a sinner… I am glad that I can acknowledge that I am a sinner… I am glad I know that there is a separation between me and God. It gives me a chance to hear God’s Call, to be Christ’s friend, to be loved by God as God’s child, to be able to clasp God’s hand and be brought into life.
posted by koraps at 8:40 PM
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