Sermon: The God Who Hears the Cry
Scripture Text: Exodus 2 and Matthew 9:1-17
Quotes for Reflection
C.S. Lewis, The Slip of the Tongue
I say my prayers, I read a book of devotion, I prepare for, or receive, the Sacrament. But while I do these things, there is, so to speak, a voice inside me that urges caution. It tells me to be careful, to keep my head, not to go too far, not to burn my boats. I come into the presence of God with a great fear lest anything should happen to me within that presence which will prove too intolerably inconvenient when I have come out again into my “ordinary” life. I don’t want to be carried away into any resolution which I shall afterwards regret. For I know I shall be feeling quite different after breakfast; I don’t want anything to happen to me at the altar which will run up too big a bill to pay then.
N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone
So how could Jesus and his friends not celebrate? They were in the middle of God’s new work, an outpouring of mercy which was already upstaging the Temple itself. As the prophet Hosea (6.6) had seen long ago, what God really wants is mercy, not sacrifice. The times were indeed changing. God’s new world was being born, and from now on everything would be different. The question for us is whether we are living in that new world ourselves, or whether we keep sneaking back to the old one where we feel more at home.
Thornton Wilder, The Angel that Troubles the Waters
Without your wound where would your power be? It is your very remorse that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In love’s service only the wounded soldiers can serve.
Application Questions
1. Where do you see self-righteousness shaping the way people relate to one another today? What fruit does it produce—in our communities, our churches, even in ourselves?
2. Can you identify a moment when God exposed self-righteousness in your own heart? How did He humble you and what grace did He give you in its place?
3. If you were living more fully from mercy rather than self-righteousness, who might you move toward this week and what would that love look like?