Sermon - Rev Judith Perry 

In this story of Jesus, as in many, Jesus always draws near to the outcast. So here we have a day in the life of Jesus.  

Some days feel like interruptions strung together. Matthew shows us one of Jesus’ days — a day when every interruption is a person, and every person is someone society has pushed to the margins.  

Three outcasts. Three impossible situations. One Saviour who refuses to walk past any of them. 

So we have outcast #1: the tax collector.  

A tax collector is sitting at his tax booth — a symbol of betrayal, greed, and collaboration with Rome. He is the last person a rabbi should call. But Jesus walks straight toward him and says two words that change everything: “Follow me.” 

This is what Jesus does: 

• He sees the man — not his reputation, not his past, not his failures. 

• He calls him into discipleship before he has cleaned up his life. 

• He sits at the tax collector’s table, surrounded by sinners, and Jesus declares His mission: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” 

What does this say about Jesus? 

He begins with the outcast no one wants. Here is the pattern. Grace moves toward the people others avoid. 

Next, we have a woman with gynecological issues. Her bleeding never stops. For some of us here she is close to being our patron saint. Because of the bleeding, she is unclean.  

She is isolated and cannot touch anyone, let alone cook and care for her family. 

Jesus is on His way to help someone else when a woman touches the fringe of His cloak. For twelve years she has been bleeding — physically exhausted, socially isolated, religiously unclean.  

She approaches Jesus quietly, hoping not to be noticed, and what does Jesus do? 

• He stops. 

• He turns. 

• He calls her “Daughter” — the only time in the Gospels He uses this word for someone. 

• He restores her publicly, so she never has to hide again. 

What does this tell us about Jesus? Jesus refuses to let anyone slip through the cracks. He restores not only her body but her dignity. 

And then we have the third outcast, the dead girl. 

A synagogue leader — a man of status — comes to Jesus in desperation. His daughter is dead. Death is the ultimate boundary, the final outcast-maker. 

So here is the third outcast that Jesus encounters on this one day. 

• He goes into the house others have already given up on. 

• He takes the girl by the hand — touching death, which should make Him unclean. 

• Life flows where death had settled. 

• The girl rises. 

What then does this tell us about Jesus? 

There is no boundary Jesus will not cross — not sin, not shame, not sickness, not even death. 

There is this thread that holds these three short episodes together: 

Three outcasts. Three impossible situations. Three people who should have been avoided. 

But Jesus: 

• sees the tax collector, 

• stops for the bleeding woman, 

• touches the dead girl. 

The holy God draws near to the unholy. The clean One touches the unclean. The living One takes the hand of the dead. 

This is the gospel in motion. 

But what do we do with it? Where does it meet us, this morning, gathered to hear the words of Jesus? 

Where does all this meet us? 

Some of us here today feel like outcasts. 

You may feel like the tax collector — defined by your past. Or like the woman — exhausted and ashamed. Or like the girl — beyond hope. 

Jesus moves toward you, not away from you. 

And what does us mean for us as a collective, as a church? 

Let me tell you about Sainte Marie de Paris. She had been divorced, twice, I think. She was a Russian who had escaped to Paris. An atheist, until God had a word with her. She became a nun living alone in the city. 

She smoked, and in her habit, she visited the bars and brothels. She talked with the people. She brought God’s love to the forgotten.  

Then in WWII she joined the resistance, finally caught, she was executed in a concentration camp. 

She is remembered as Sainte Marie de Paris, Saint Mary of Paris. 

She followed Jesus into the places others avoided, just as we are called to follow Jesus into these places others shun: 

• the tables where “sinners” sit, 

• the crowds where the hurting hide, 

• the rooms where death seems to have won. 

Mercy, presence and courage are asked of us as we reform our church in this new age. 

Faith is not always loud. Sometimes it is a quiet reach for the hem of His garment. Sometimes it is a desperate plea for a child. Sometimes it is simply getting up from the tax booth when Jesus calls. 

Matthew shows us a Saviour who refuses to let anyone remain an outcast. He calls, He stops, He touches, He restores. And He still does. 

May we hear His call, feel His touch, and extend His mercy to a world full of outcasts — including the parts of ourselves we think He could never love.