Third Sunday after Trinity – 8 June 2008

A spiritual miracle for each of us

You could argue that this passage we have just read is rather unhelpful. First we have the call of Matthew. He would have been a deeply unpopular man who would have lined his pockets as he collected taxes for the Romans. Matthew is seen to switch, almost in an instant, from being a corrupt government official to one of Jesus’ chosen twelve apostles. Jesus is then to be found having dinner with more tax-collectors and sinners. Sinners in what sense we do not know, but the implication is that they were an unsavoury bunch of people. And then, Jesus is seen miraculously cleansing a woman who just touched the hem of his cloak, and he then raises a young girl from the dead.

Lets be honest, life is just not like this. Do we really accept that people, in an instant, become completely different characters when they come to meet and have faith in Jesus? I remember Jonathan Aitken, the MP and cabinet minister, who was famously jailed for lying in court in 1997. The Guardian newspaper discovered that whilst he was Minister of Defence Procurement an Arab arms dealer had paid for him to stay at the Paris Ritz. Aitken vehemently denied it and said in a press conference before his trial, "If it falls to me to start a fight to cut out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism in our country with the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play, so be it. I am ready for the fight. The fight against falsehood and those who peddle it.” The court proved unequivocally that the newspaper was right and Aitken was lying and he was jailed for 18 months.

During the trial period and then in prison Jonathan Aitken rediscovered his Christian faith after attending an Alpha Course. He studied theology and has became a prominent Christian speaker and writer. Four years ago Aitken attempted to return to politics but this was vetoed by Michael Howard. Despite his repentance for what he had done wrong and his welcome by prominent churches such as Holy Trinity, Brompton his past was not going to be ignored by society. So far as the world was concerned Aitken’s response to the call of Jesus did not separate him from his past.

We don’t find it very easy to accept that through faith we are capable of transformation from sinner to saint. And I suspect many of us know from our own experience that having a living faith does not separate us from our inherent weakesses. Living our lives in the image of Jesus Christ can be hard work, particularly because our idea of being faithful to Christ can be the diametric opposite to someone elses. We only have to look at the massive row in the Anglican church over the issue of same-sex partnerships and gay bishops to know that.

After Matthew’s conversion we have the miraculous healing of the woman suffering from haemorrages. It is true to say that miraculous healing can and does occur. I know two families in this church who have told me of miraculous healing that came after deep prayer. It would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that their loved ones were brought back from the brink of death. So, sometimes, just sometimes, miracles do happen, for what reason we do not know.

But we have to be honest and say that alongside these miracles we know of countless people who have died notwithstanding choruses of prayer. And we also know of many others whose lives are overshadowed and shaped, maybe debilitated, by illness. Why then do our gospel readings always talk of miraculous healings and not of failed attempts to give life and renewal.

Maybe the answer is not in the headline stories of Matthew’s call and the little girl’s raising from the dead. But in all the incidental people Jesus met of whom we hear very little. What about all the other tax collectors and sinners he ate with? What about the five thousand people taught and fed on the hillside. And hundred’s who, after the news of his healings spread, crowded round him whereever he went. The crowds got so bad that one family made a hole in the roof of a house and lowered a sick man down because there was no other way to get near Jesus. And this must mean that hundreds, thousands maybe never got close enough to receive his healing, to hear his call, to share a meal with him.

Some of us here might just instantly recognise ourselves in the gospel story we heard to today. There may well be people who remember the time, the moment in their lives when they heard Jesus’ call, ‘follow me’. Who remember the moment when they made a deliberate decision to give their lives to Jesus Christ. And their lives have never been the same since. But alongside them there will be many others who have not had that experience. Those who waver between faith and agnosticism. Some who struggle to believe in miracles, virgin birth or physical resurrection. Those who know that Jesus’ teaching is the best foundation for life, but struggle to achieve a personal relationship with God.

There will be some who know the power of prayer and God to bring people back from the brink of an abyss. They can empathise with the woman who touched Jesus’ hem or with the family of the child who was brought back from death. But there are others for whom such saving moments of grace have not happened and the pain and suffering of loss or critical illness has not been taken away.

And it was the same in Jesus day. Most never quite got close enough. Not through any lack of faith or failure on their part, but because that is how life is. Very occasionally life turns from black to white as it did for Matthew and the sick woman. But for the rest of the time most of us live in hope, aware of how muddy life can be. Our lives are flawed, we do get things wrong; we are sometimes selfish, greedy or unkind. We are often half hearted in our attempts to live the gospel knowing it is too uncomfortable and difficult. But for all this Jesus sits down and eats with us – offering spiritual, if not physical transformation.

The message buried in this story is that Jesus does come to each and every one of us. And the miracles and changed lives give a glimpse of what can be. Matthew is witness to the invitation constantly offered, follow me. The woman who touched Jesus hem shows us the extraordinary potential that faith has to transform our lives. The raised girl underlines what one commentator describes as ‘the awesome power of Jesus’.

Everyone is invited and those who follow are not judged – a miracle in itself. We are all accepted by God, just as we are. And as the story of Jonathan Aitken shows, even if we follow, it will is not always be plain sailing. We are still who we are and our past cannot be obliterated. But the extraordinary forgiving love of God is ever present, accepting us and guiding us. Our lives may not be miraculously transformed, but each and every day we spend holding our faith, whatever shape that is, we are being gently formed into the likeness of Christ. The task is never complete, because we are who we are. But the gospel reminds us that we should never underestimate the power of God transform our lives – the spiritual miracle is going on in each one of us.