Annually September 21
Ephesians 4: 1-7, 11-13, Psalm 19: 2-5, Matthew 9:9-13
Today’s Psalm tells the story of the readings so beautifully that I thought we should start there. Here is the New Jerusalem translation of the Psalm that captures its sense even more clearly than the New American version.
The sky tells the glory of God,
Tells the genius of God’s work.
Day carries the news to day,
Night brings the message to night,
Without a word, without a sound,
Without a voice being heard,
Yet their message fills the world,
Their news reaches its rim.
This is what we are being asked to join. A world that in its very existence speaks the glory of God. We, of course, as humans don’t do it automatically we must decide. We must choose to live and act in a way that speaks of God and the beauty God bestows.
Importantly we are all called. That’s the focus of the call of Matthew. As a tax collector he would have been shunned and as we read the Pharisees considered him a sinner, one who betrayed the Jewish faith by extorting money as part of cooperating with the Roman empire. But as we so often see Jesus chooses those people that others dismiss as unworthy. Jesus routinely seeks out the poor, the outcasts and the politically offensive to join the kingdom he is creating. Jesus asks people to live a new life right now, to change paths and take on the beauty of the Psalm as human beings. To live as described in Ephesians, “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit”
I think there’s a hidden twist in Paul statement. He wants us to “preserve the unity of the Spirit.” Notice he didn’t say create a unity of love, as if somehow everything was at loose ends and we as humans had to help God make the world a better place. No, he says, “preserve the unity of the Spirit.” I think that is an indication that the Psalm is accurate in maintaining that creation itself speaks the love and beauty of God. The issue is, will we preserve the unity? Can we, because we believe in one God, one Body and Spirit, an overall unity in the world, be humble, gentle and patient? Will we preserve the beauty and balance that God put in place? Doesn’t it help make more sense of why Jesus chose outcasts, the poor and the sinners. He wasn’t looking for a dynamic work force or highly powered people to fix the world but people who would recognize a gift when they saw it. People who could be grateful and return love to all around them. People who could show mercy because mercy had been shown to them. Can we accept what God offers and live our lives as expressions of love, humble, gentle and kind? Perhaps we aren’t being asked to change the world just ourselves.
