Pentecost 4 Follow you where? June 8, 2008

Matthew 9:9-26
9As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. 10And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this; they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
14Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” 15And Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. 17Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
18While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. 20Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, 21for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” 22Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. 23When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. 25But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26And the report of this spread throughout that district.
Jesus says to Matthew, “Follow me” which could make the top 5 for Jesus’ catchy slogans. I would like to beg the question, Follow you where. To the bed side of 91 year old Ruth ORiley who finally after months of struggle got to finally go home. You see Ruth got what she wanted, to go home. She thought on one level that home was meadow merely where her apartment and friends were. God took her at her word and brought her to God’s self while her daughter and granddaughter and friends and her time share priest, Dcn Rick Whitt and FR. Jim from Rhode Island shared a part of the pastoral quarters in Ruth’s life.Follow you where, to the funeral of Caleb Horvath 21 year old who died ripping the heart out of parents who should be celebrating their young son’s life not in memory and tragedy. To Executive council where prayerful and tough decisions had to made about a hollowed piece of land.
Follow you to the race track where for an hour each way I was given the opportunity to talk to three people who felt like the church had no place for them.
I ask you where did God lead you this week? Did you see it as opportunity? Imagine if we saw our lives not as days to survive but as opportunities that God could use us. It is a suttle shift but a life changing shift.
“Follow me” he says, ask yourself where God could be sending me that no one else could or might go. How can I through word and action let those I touch on a daily basis know how this following Him changes my life and how I do business?
Remember Jesus always picked unlikely candidates and pushed them in unlikely ways to transform the world in unexpected way.
May the world be transformed because we said yes when he said Follow me to you.

In the name of God