The Economy of Mercy

Matt 9 (TNIV)

9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

What is the "rule" that directs our homes or our lives?  In what ways does the celebration of communion speak into our lives and our homes as we think about what guides and directs us there?

Two terms that you may not often associate together - economy and mercy.  That in itself says a lot.  The service of communion that we celebrate today reminds us that the separation of the terms was not God's idea.  For many of us, "economy" is all about money.  We have been conditioned by our culture to think this way, and to orient our lives around money and finance and all that we have come to associate with it.  As you may have guessed, what Jesus proposes is something quite different.  Not a life that is ruled and directed by finance, but one that is guided and directed by something bigger - something that Jesus eludes to in verse 13 of the passage to the right - mercy. 

The word "economy" derives from two Greek words, one meaning "house" and the other meaning "rule" so it is "the rule of the house."  What Jesus is suggesting here is a rule of the house, a way of life, that is all about mercy, not about finance or sacrifice.  This is what this dealer in finance, this tax collector, is invited to become a part of.  The disciples are invited to become a part of it to.

It is being a part of this new economy, this new rule of the house, this new way of life that we are invited to embrace in the celebration of communion.  This is what Pastor Jon invites us to consider as we enter into the celebration of communion, and as we live the lives that flow out of that celebration.  We are invited to consider what it is that rules our homes, our lives.  If you would like to listen to the sermon again, or perhaps for the first time, you can access our sermon library by clicking here.