11 June 2023 - Proper 5, Year A

Theme

This week’s readings speak about the importance of faith and the cost (and blessing) of answering God’s call. In Genesis, Abram’s faith is revealed in the way he obeys God’s call to pack up and move. In Romans, Paul explains that Abram was chosen and blessed because of his faith. In Matthew, Jesus calls a tax-collector and a woman is healed because of her faith. In Hosea and Psalm 50, God claims to desire a pure heart rather than sacrifice and burnt offerings.

Scripture Readings

  • Genesis 12:1-9 - God tells Abram to leave his land and family and go to Canaan. God declares that the land will be given to Abram’s descendants, who will be blessed and be made a great people.

  • Psalm 33:1-12 - A Psalm of praise for all that God has created.

  • Romans 4:13-25 - God promises to give land to Abraham’s descendants because of his right relationship with God through faith, not his obedience to God’s law. Abraham became a father to many nations because he believed in a God who raised the dead and creates new things out of nothing. God counted Abraham (and us as his descendents) as righteous because of his faith.

  • Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 - Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collector, to follow him. Matthew invites Jesus and his disciples to dine with him and his friends. The Pharisees accuse Jesus of socialising with sinners. Jesus responds by claiming that healthy people don’t need a doctor, sick people do. He has come to call those who know they are sinners, not those who think they are righteous.

    Jesus is then asked to attend to a man’s daughter who had just died. While on the way, a woman who had suffered with constant bleeding for twelve years came and touched his cloak. Jesus realised and told her that her faith has made her well. She was healed in that moment. When Jesus arrived at the house where the girl had died, he told everyone to leave and announced that the girl was not dead, but sleeping. Jesus took her by the hand and she stood up.

  • Hosea 5:15-6:6 - This is the passage that Jesus quotes to the Pharisees in Matthew 9. God desires mercy, not sacrifice. God wants people to know God, rather than their burnt offerings.

  • Psalm 50:7-15 - God claims that he does not need their sacrifices and burnt offerings because all the animals in the world are already God’s. Rather, they should make thankfulness their sacrifice to God, and keep the vows that they have made to God.

The Context

During the Season after Pentecost, there are two additional scripture readings (Old Testament and Psalm) each week. The first two OT and Psalm readings during ordinary time are not necessarily related to the Gospel reading. Rather, they are semi-continuous readings that follow major stories and themes throughout the bible. These readings deal with the Patriarchal/Exodus narratives in year A, the Monarchial narratives in year B and the Prophets in year C.

The second set of OT and Psalm readings follows the traditional lectionary formula of providing a passage that is thematically relatied to the Gospel reading of the week.

Personal Application

This week’s readings share two stories of people being called. In Genesis, Abram is called to leave his home and his family and travel to a new land to begin a new life. In Matthew, Jesus calls Matthew the tax collector to follow him. Both of these calls came at a severe cost. Abram has to leave the comfort of land and family that he has known and loved. Matthew has to leave the comfort and security of his job - also the cause of his sinfulness.

God doesn’t only call us “to” something; God often calls us “away” from things that are preventing us from answering God’s call effectively.

Where do you believe God might be calling you to take part in the Kingdom of God in this world? What might God be calling you away from that is preventing you from following Jesus to the best of your ability?

Communal Application

It is also interesting to note how far-reaching God’s call is. In Genesis, God calls Abram (a man seemingly well beyond his prime working and fathering years) to become a father to all the Nations. In Matthew, Jesus calling a tax-collector to follow him is extremely controversial, as seen by the Pharisees’ response. In far too many churches, there are still those who try to tell us, and supposedly God, who can and cannot be called.

In the eyes of many, Matthew was not worthy to be Jesus’ disciples, and yet Jesus sought him out. Note that it wasn’t Matthew that found Jesus, it was Jesus who approached Matthew. It is not what others see in us that makes us worthy, but what Jesus sees and can do with any who chooses to answer Jesus’ call to follow him.

Who might we be excluding from God’s call in our churches because of the laws, limitations and policies that we have created? How do we ensure that our churches are safe spaces for all to meet with and respond to the call of Christ?

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