In today’s world in America, what do you think is the most despicable occupation? According to a Harris poll, accountants were at the very bottom of the list with only 14% of Americans thinking that accountants had an honorable occupation. Others at the bottom of the list were bankers, business people, lawyers and journalists and union leaders.

At the top of the list of most admirable occupations? Doctors, scientists, teachers and ministers. These were all occupations that serve the welfare of humanity.

But at the bottom of that were those people who worked with money: bankers, businessmen and accounts. Yes, money related jobs were at the bottom of the list.

I wonder where tax collectors would have been on that list if their occupation had been rated? I would guess at the lowest rung of the polls. Tax collectors? That word still rings of prejudice in many people’s minds.

The IRS? Do you have feelings about the initials IRS? Internal Revenue Service? Do you ever hear anyone say that they work for the IRS and collect taxes? If so, it is like they work for an enemy bureaucracy, that unfathomable agency called the IRS. Have you ever had ever to sit across the desk from an IRS agent who collects taxes for the federal government? If you have, are there any feelings in your heart towards IRS agents and tax collectors?

I telephoned a friend who works for the IRS and used to be a collections agent. She said that “prejudice against IRS agents is alive and well in our society. When people first find out that I work for the IRS, it is a great conversation stopper. These people hear horror stories about the IRS and afraid that all IRS agents are out to get them.” Yes, prejudice and fear of IRS agents is alive and well in our society.

Today is a tax collector story. It is the story of Jesus’ call of his first disciples and one of Jesus’ first twelve disciples was a tax collector by the name of Matthew.

What does this  tax collector story mean for our lives today? What does this story mean for you and me?

First, Jesus wants us to have hearts like Mathew the tax collector who was keenly aware of his own imperfections and sins. Jesus wants us to have hearts that know of our infinite and ever present sinfulness deep in our own soul, a sinfulness that contributes to all conflicts in our lives. Rather than looking at other people as the source of the conflict and problem, Jesus wants us to have hearts that deeply and wisely know of our own personal imperfections…and contribution to the problem at hand.

Jesus wants us to remember at all times that we are sinners, the worst of sinners, so society thought of Matthew. Matthew knew that he was the worst of sinners. So did the young Timothy who said that he was the worst of sinners. (I Timothy 1:16)

Jesus wants us to know that the core of inner disciples was composed of sinful, imperfect, flawed people, like Matthew. Tax collectors were considered the worst of the lot in Jewish society, and Jesus was attracted to such people.

Most of us do not think of ourselves as robbers, prostitutes, murderers and terrorists, but Jesus wants us to be aware of our flawed and sinful personalities. We are like Matthew. We are ordinary people who have a deep reservoir of sin within us. We are sinful folk and we need the doctor to heal and forgive us.

In the story for today, we Christians are invited to “own up” to our moral and spiritual sickness. In the story for today, we Christians are invited to “own up” to our part of the conflicts that are going on in our lives. We are invited to be honest with ourselves and our own sinfulness that lies deep within our souls.

Only people who were big sinners and knew they were in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness would be his disciples. Matthew’s eyes were open to his own sinfulness; the Pharisees’ eyes were blind to their own imperfections, sins, flaws, and character defects. In his deepest heart, as Matthew examined his own life, he knew he was a big time sinner; the Pharisees did not. When trouble happened in Matthew’s house, Matthew looked first into his own soul and actions to identify the problem. When trouble happened at the Pharisees house, the Pharisees looked at the other people in the house as the source of the problem.

Secondly, Jesus does not want us to be like the Pharisees, to have hearts that are hard towards God, to have hearts that are hard towards other people whom the world considers “obvious sinners,” “outsiders,” “back sliders.” Jesus was angry at the Pharisees because their hearts were hard. Their hearts were not soft. Their hearts were not full of the compassion of God. Jesus’ heart was full of compassion for the lepers, the poor, the maimed, the blind, the lame and other despicable people in Jesus’ society. The hearts of the Pharisees were not. This was the problem. This is the problem if our hearts are hard and not compassionate to the “so-called” sinners of society.

The Pharisees thought that they were better than the other more obviously sinful folk like the lepers, the poor, maimed, blind and lame. The Pharisees were proud of their uprightness and moral rectitude and did not perceive that they were lost. The Pharisees were like the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son who stayed home with the father and did not realize that he was lost.

None of us are attracted to people who are conceited and full of themselves like the Pharisees were. In your imagination, would you think of a person or persons who are religiously conceited and think that they are religiously better than other folks? None of us are attracted to them.

The Pharisees had hard-hearts to other people in need. In the stories in the gospels, they never lifted a finger to help sick and diseased people around them. Their hearts were calloused to human suffering.

Instead of mercy, the Pharisees were good at going to church, giving their tithe, spouting their Bible verses, quoting religious platitudes, looking pious, giving the distinct impression that they were religious folk.

We end where we began, with Matthew. The call of Matthew. We can see the setting ……. a whole bunch of tax collectors over at Matthew’s house, along with other sinners. What a mess of humanity: lepers, lame, blind, all social outcasts. Jesus had just called Matthew to be one of his core disciples and the Pharisees knew it. We can visualize the Pharisees standing stiffly off to the side of the room, not wanting to get too close to those other despicable people. But Jesus knew their hearts as he knows ours.

May God give us the grace to own up to our imperfections and sinfulness and live like a forgiven people.

Used with permission.  For more of Rev. Edward Markquart’s sermon