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SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2008

THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Matthew 9:9-26 (Believing through our doubts)

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TODAY’S SERMON THEME:

No matter what you may have heard or read, I can assure you that doubt is not the opposite of faith. As a matter of fact, doubt can lead us to faith. But we must follow the example of the early disciples of the Lord, who (1) offered their personal doubts into the hands of Jesus, (2) followed Him into the ministry of humble servanthood, and (3) transformed forever the world around them.

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1. The year was 1972. I was working as a weekend police reporter for the old afternoon newspaper in my hometown, Fort Worth, Texas. I was also in college at the time, so my work basically took place on Fridays through Sundays. Like all beginning reporters, I covered police and fire news -- house fires, shootings, robberies, burglaries, car wrecks -- and other crime-related news events. (To this day, you still see these types of stories during the first 10 minutes of almost every local TV station in the nation.) THERE WAS ONE STORY, THOUGH, THAT TAUGHT ME AN IMPORTANT LESSON ABOUT FAITH. I will never forget it. It was a fire at an apartment complex -- a three-story apartment building on the near south side of Fort Worth. I was working in the newsroom on Saturday night when the first alarm came in about 8:30 p.m. Now, I rarely responded to one-alarm fires. But when the second alarm came in a few minutes later, I grabbed my old 35-mm camera and got in my 1967 Ford Galaxy and headed to the scene. The third alarm came while I was en route -- and I heard it on my old crystal-scanner radio in the car. I got to the scene while flames were still blazing from the roof of the complex. It was a difficult fire. The building was right in the middle of a lower-income residential neighborhood. The houses were all made of wood, the apartment was made of wood, and the lots were placed close together. I arrived expecting a major news story. And I was not disappointed. But I was also not prepared for the lesson I learned that night.

2. When I pulled up, the fire department was trying to rescue a young teenaged boy from a third-story apartment. He was perched in a bedroom window of his apartment, and flames were blocking his way to other exits. His only option was to jump. But he was afraid to jump. The police and fire officials had put together a group of people who were holding a large bedspread on the ground beneath his window. They were urging the young boy to jump into their safety net. But the youngster was sobbing and crying so hysterically that he couldn’t do it. I took photographs of him perched in the window. (Now, these COULD HAVE BEEN Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs. But I was only 20 years old at the time and was just learning how to use my first 35-mm camera. I messed up. I tried to use available light, at night, and the shots never came out.) The youngster in the window was totally freaked out. It took a very calm fire captain with a bull horn to convince him that the only way to safety was to jump. His words were something like this: “WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED, SON! JUST STEP OFF THE LEDGE! WE’LL CATCH YOU! YOU’VE GOT TO BELIEVE ME!” The young boy finally agreed. And he finally believed. He saw what was happening below him, and he believed. And he jumped. Because of his belief, because of his faith in the words of the fire captain, he overcame his doubts. And he was saved.

3. And the lesson I learned that night is the main point I want to make this morning, as we look at our Gospel lesson from Matthew Chapter 9. And here it is:

Watching the young boy on the window sill on that Saturday night 36 years ago, I learned that if we are willing to surrender our doubts to those who can save us, then we, too, can be saved. The young boy let go of his doubts. He stepped off the ledge. He trusted in those who could save him. And he WAS saved. (And I, of course, missed a great chance to become a world-class photographer.)

4. Our Gospel lesson today has three separate stories joined together as one. Three separate stories that show the LOVE, the MERCY, and the POWER of the Lord. Three separate stories that show us how we, too, can move from DOUBT to FAITH. Remember: Doubt is NOT the opposite of faith. Doubt merely means that we have incomplete information about something. Doubt means that we have questions in our mind that need to be addressed. And the people involved in our Gospel lesson today found the answers to their doubts in the person of the Lord Jesus.

(1) The first part of our lesson is the calling of St. Matthew (the author of the text, writing about himself) by the Lord Jesus. The traditional setting for this is the seaside village of Capernaum (Kefar Nahum) -- a place I have visited twice. Matthew is sitting at his job -- at the tax collector’s booth -- doing what the Romans have hired him to do: Collect taxes from the Jewish people. It was about as popular a job then as it is today. Until one day when Jesus walks up and says to him: “Matthew, come and follow me.” Can you imagine the DOUBTS in Matthew’s mind? Yet he overcame his doubts, got up, and followed. Later, when Jesus was having dinner in Matthew’s home, the proper religious authorities were outraged -- because Jesus was mingling with SINNERS and UNCLEAN people. Jesus explains to them that his ministry -- and Matthew’s new ministry -- specifically targets those who need help. “Healthy people don’t need a doctor,” He said. “But the sick do.”

(2) The second part of our text contains two healing stories -- where Jesus brings a dead girl back to life and heals a woman who had been sick for 12 years. Matthew tells us that a man who was a “ruler” of the Jewish people came to Jesus to tell him that his little daughter had just died. (Mark tells us that the man’s name was Jairus, and that his daughter was 12 years old.) Jairus must have had DOUBTS about going to Jesus -- after all, his little girl was DEAD. But he overcame his doubt, and said to Jesus, “If you come and put your hand on her, she will live.” So Jesus and His apostles (with Matthew) went to the man’s house. On their way to the house, a woman in the streets of Capernaum came and TOUCHED the fringe of Jesus’ outer cloak. This woman was desperate. The other Gospels say she had seen many doctors, but had only gotten worse over a 12-year period. She must have had DOUBTS, too. But she overcame them and pushed through to touch Jesus. “If only I touch his cloak, I will be made well,” she said. And so she did. Jesus turned to her and said: “Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well.” She overcame her doubt and was healed. In the meantime, Jesus arrives at Jairus’ house, where the mourners are wailing and moaning. Jesus sends them off -- saying that the little girl is only sleeping. They LAUGH at Jesus. But Jesus goes in, takes the girl by the hand, and brings her back to life. (“Talitha, kuom. Little girl, I say to you, arise.) Because Jairus overcame his DOUBT, his daughter was brought back.

5. Without question, the message is clear: Those who set aside their doubt and trust in the Lord, are the ones who are saved. Doubt is NOT the opposite of faith -- it is a pathway to faith, if we will let it lead us TO faith. Doubt merely means that we are not sufficiently informed about what is happening around us. God, though, is never uninformed. And He works through us -- and in us -- in ways that are magnificent and miraculous. All that is required is that we release our DOUBT to Him. The Bible is FILLED with countless stories of FAITH overcoming DOUBT:

(1) Abraham doubted God’s ability to make him the father of a great nation, when he and his wife were childless. But he surrendered his doubt to the Lord and trusted. And his wife Sarah conceived and bore a son. And their world was changed forever

(2) Moses doubted that God could make him into a deliverer of the Hebrew people. But he let go of his doubt and trusted. And the world was changed forever.

(3) A 14-year-old girl named Mary doubted that she could become the mother of the Messiah. But she let go of her doubt and trusted. “Let it be unto me according to your word,” Mary said. And all of creation was changed forever.

(4) Four fishermen named Peter, Andrew, James and John doubted that they would ever amount to more than simple fishermen. But they set aside their doubt, trusted in the words that Jesus spoke to them, and followed Him in the way of the Cross. And so did Matthew and the rest of the apostles. And the world was changed forever.

(5) A zealous prosecutor named Saul doubted that he could become an apostle of the Lord Jesus. But the Lord spoke to him, called him, and empowered him to be an apostle. And the world was changed forever.

6. We, too, can share in the LOVE, the POWER and the JOY of the Lord. But we must follow the example of the early disciples of the Lord, who (1) offered their personal doubts into the hands of Jesus, (2) followed Him into the ministry of humble servanthood, and (3) transformed forever the world around them.