The Minor Festival of St. Matthew – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Matthew 9:9-13 “Our Doctor is in”
September 21, 2025 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Oh God, Heavenly Father, we thank you that you sent your Son to be our ultimate physician. If He wouldn’t have come down and died on the cross and rose for us, our lives today would be in vain. Forgive us when during our trials and temptations we forget that You are always with us. That You have called us to Yourself and everything is going to be in Your hands. We ask that in our trials we remember to look to You and that we can take heart knowing You will provide for us. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 9th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who sees the great sins in our lives and yet in His mercy, He calls us to follow Him and be His own, and may we be like Matthew and do it, without a second thought, dear fellow redeemed:
Why are people fascinated with watching TV shows about hospitals? Two shows that come to mind that were very popular were House and Grey’s Anatomy. Every episode was a race against the 42 minutes of the show to save someone’s life. Now going back to the question, how do we answer it? Well, it is suspenseful! Someone is hurt and is need of saving! We watch a regular human being that is a doctor save another human being that is the person being sick. Maybe some of us want to be that modern superhero of a doctor and save someone, because I bet that no one in here wants to be the one who is sick. I bet there are some of us who don’t like going to see the doctor whatsoever. As Christians though, as much as we don’t think about it, we are that person in the hospital bed. We have that crazy disease and are looking to be cured. Just as these shows show patients in need of a doctor, our text today shows us that we are in need of a spiritual doctor. Not only are we in need, but he calls to us. Today we need a doctor and our doctor is in.
Our text today begins with how Matthew has been called to follow Jesus. There is not much dialogue between the two. What we see is that Jesus gave Matthew his call, and he went willingly without a second thought. The focus of the text today, is going to be on the second part. After leaving the tax collector’s booth, he invites Jesus into his home for a meal. Many of his associates came as well as many others. The Pharisees upon seeing this group, begin to criticize it. They are the big shots of the Jewish nation. Looking in Scripture, we see that they are indeed, very powerful people. They make their outward appearance look as something that should be idolized. They show off their tithing, fasting, even down to the number of steps that they take. As our text says, they are looking at who Jesus is sitting with. For them this is disgusting. He is sitting with the groups of people that the religious leaders looked down on. These groups of people were the tax collectors, the poor, the lame, and the prostitutes. They are the lowest of the low in this society. No one wants to be associated with them. Yet, at this feast an important man is there. Not only is he there with them, he is reclining and eating with them. The Pharisees did not understand.
Our 42-minute TV show has started. As we watch it, we see ourselves, the doctor! The doctor does all the saving! We see ourselves working hard, racing against the clock to save the patient. Then if it works out, we have done it! We saved the day! The question now is, in what way do we look at the positive outcome of our deeds? Do we stay humble? Too often we pat ourselves on the back. Too often we can become arrogant. We are working so hard that nothing can stop us. Like Pharisees, we are looking at our outward appearance. We want to look better than others. We want to be better than others. We can start to brag about our awesome accomplishments. There’s no better way to brag about our accomplishments than showing proof by comparing what we have done with the work of someone else. This on the top feeling can then lead down the path to other sins. We commit them thinking that we can’t get caught in them. The teachers of the law, the Pharisees, believed that they didn’t need a doctor. Sometimes in our lives, we can go on and think the same.
As we heard in our text, there is a second group of people. Verse ten records, “And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.” As Christians how often do we find ourselves with this group. The tax collectors were known for cheating people out of more money than what they owed. We aren’t tax collectors, but the same concept would be cheating someone out of their hard work and their time. Adding that little bit of extra in for ourselves. The Pharisees make it known about the tax collector’s reputation. An easy point to see is how they talk behind the backs of the tax collectors. Gossip, slander, ruining someone’s reputation, we can look to social media and find a lot of this taking place. Lastly, we might not be selling ourselves, but let’s look at our TV again. In today’s world, it is very hard to find a TV show that doesn’t have characters sleeping around. Society has accepted this as normal. With society saying it is right, the devil knows just the right temptation to use to suit his needs against us. Looking back at the sins that we have done throughout the week, it’s not too hard to find ourselves near rock bottom. We at times can feel so low that when we read verse eleven and hear the Pharisees question to Jesus, we wonder if we can even be put in this group. Are we even worthy to eat with Jesus?
Jesus is our great Physician. He came into the world to heal us. As we look and dive into the gospels, we see time and time again how He cured those who were sick. He drove demons out of those who were being afflicted. He forgave those showing that He is indeed the Son of God. Sometimes we can forget what He has done. We forget that this same life that we are living now, Jesus lived. He felt our temptations. He felt our griefs and our loss of loved ones. He felt our tiredness; He felt our pain. He did all of it perfectly, to have nails drove into his hands and his feet. A crown of thorns was put on his head. For us, He died. He died the death we deserved. Rising from the dead He healed us fully. Through his perfect life of experiencing what we experience, He has given us eternal life. In Holy Communion we partake of the eating and drinking of His body and blood. We receive the forgiveness of sins. We do this to remember what He has done for us. This is the medicine for our souls. Jesus died that we might live. He bore all of our sins, our Pharisee like sins, our lowest of the low sins. He came for all of us.
As we look in our text, we see that Jesus quotes an Old Testament prophet. It says in verse thirteen, Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ He tells it to the Pharisees to show them that they are in error. Their good works are not going to help them alone. God wants us to come to Him in mercy. By coming to God in repentance we acknowledge to Him that we have done wrong. In our daily lives, we can remind ourselves that it isn’t our works that save us. Jesus has done the job for us. He has healed us. Matthew was sick. Jesus went to him and called him. He didn’t care that he was a dishonest tax collector. All he said was, “Follow Me.” Matthew didn’t hesitate. He knew that Jesus could help him. This is a great example for all of us. Our Savior has called us all to him.
The TV show scene of the hospital is all too real to us. Our sins have put us there. We realize that we need our doctor for our spiritual welfare. Whether we have been guilty of the outward boasting, or down in our shame and guilt, these sins have been forgiven. Our doctor is in. He knew before talking to Matthew what he had done. He knew that he was a tax collector, a sinner and that did not stop him. He knew what was in his heart. He now calls to us. He gives us the same command. “Follow me!” We have been washed a new, He is calling us, sinners, to Himself. Matthew got up and followed Him, Jesus came for us, He died for us, He rose for us, and stands with us in our trials and temptation until we meet Him in paradise. Our doctor is in, let us go to him. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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