Pentecost 3 Matt. 9:9-13, 18-26 6/5/05
“Inside, Outside, Upside Down”
Jan and Stan Berenstain wrote a delightful children’s book back in 1968, called Inside, Outside, Upside Down. It was one of my favorites to read to my children when they were small and I’d like to share the story with you now.
[As
children like to do, a little bear goes into a box. He
closes the flaps. The box is
right-side up. A workman comes
along, upends the box onto a dolley, takes it outside of the shop and loads it
onto a truck. He drives the truck
down the road and when he hits a rough patch of road the box falls off. The
box lands right side up and the bear comes out right side up.
The little bear runs home to his mother declaring, “Ma! Ma! I went to
town, Inside, Outside, Upside Down”]
I
think the Pharisees in our Gospel lesson had an experience like that of the
little bear cub – only they didn’t land right side up and they never seem to
have come out of their boxes.
As
we know, the Pharisees were super religious law followers. They
tried with all their might to obey all of the 600+ laws that had been developed
over the centuries. The writers of
the gospels tend to paint the Pharisees in a pretty dark light, but
historically, they were just very dedicated Jews whose religiosity sometimes
made them rigid and self-righteous.
They
turned the Law, which had been a gift of the Father’s love, intended to guide
His people, into an object of tyranny. Since
they believed that happiness could only be found in following the law to the
letter, it was no wonder that they would be scandalized
at Jesus unorthodox behavior.
First
Jesus calls as one of His disciples a tax collector. Tax
collectors not only worked for or contracted with the hated Roman oppressors,
they made their living by charging more than the actual tax that had to be paid
to
What
in the world was wrong with a man whom everyone claimed was so religious that He
would choose a TAX COLLECTOR as a disciple?
Shouldn’t He have done his recruiting at the temple or synagogue? Shouldn’t
He have been more discriminating in who He chose as an apprentice?
Well,
as we know, this is only the beginning of Jesus’ “outside the box”
behavior. He eats with a bunch of
tax collectors and other flagrant sinners. Thus,
He isn’t even just choosing one of their own so they’d have a role model –
once he got cleaned up, of course. Jesus
isn’t just accepting people who don’t live right as a means of helping them
turn their lives around. Jesus is
actually *choosing* to socialize with these low life’s and outcasts. He
actually wants to be their friend.
Poor
Pharisees. They are just so stuck. They
not only can’t act outside the box, they are afraid to even take a peek
outside. They would rather stay in
a dark box than risk conceiving of another way to be in relationship with God. These
guys must have created the seven last
words of the church: “We’ve
always done it this way”.
Jesus
tries to explain it to them. He
tries to reach out to them and draw them in. But,
as we know the end of the story, His attempts to open their boxes fails. And
ultimately, those who held so tightly to tradition and doing things just right
failed themselves, for the Pharisees cease to exist as a religious sect before
the second century.
Notice
though that Jesus condemns neither the tax collectors and sinners, nor the
Pharisees. Jesus mission is to
reach out to people and offer God’s love, not judge them or beat them over the
head with how bad they are or call them to repentance.
Jesus
goes on turning boxes upside down. He
doesn’t shrink from the touch of a woman with a bleeding problem or condemn
her for touching him. Since blood
was considered unclean and a woman with hemorrhages was made unclean by
bleeding, Jesus was thus made unclean. He
wouldn’t be able to enter the synagogue for worship until he had gone through
a long ritual cleansing. Furthermore,
he praises her for her faith and invites her into an intimate relationship when
he calls her “daughter.”
Jesus
then moves on to the synagogue leader’s home where the man’s daughter is
being mourned. Jesus turns the
funeral custom boxes upside down by sending the professional mourners away and
claiming the girl is only sleeping. It
must have been really scary for the people gathered there to have their boxes
ripped open as Jesus brought the girl back to life.
It
would have been scary, but life producing and joyous.
The synagogue leader must have loved his daughter very much to have
risked the scorn of other religious leaders by inviting Jesus into his home. It
took real courage to break free of the box of religious tradition and believe
that his daughter could be raised from the dead. It
took tremendous imagination to see beyond the obviousness of this negative
situation to an undreamed of possibility. And
the man’s faith was rewarded with a restored relationship.
I get this fantastic image in my mind of this scene. Jesus walking purposefully down the road to the religious leader’s home with disciples, and tax collectors and prostitutes and petty thieves and other outcasts trailing along. Somewhere in the crowd is a woman dancing and singing praises to God with unashamed glee over having been healed. Everyone is enjoying the remarkable experiences of the day and looking forward to yet another box being turned upside down...everyone that is except the Pharisees. They stay on the fringes, away from the crowd so they won’t be corrupted –fearful of being corrupted by being touched by someone unclean, but even more fearful of being corrupted by the joy of having your life turned upside down and being invited to come out of your box to the joy of healing.
Where
would Jesus go if he came to our area? Would
we find Him up the road at the Evergreen hotel eating a pizza with sinners or at
the Iron Horse sharing a beer with some bikers?
Would He come to any of our churches?
What boxes might He find us in and would He have to turn them upside down
to shake us out of our rigidity?
Truth
is, Jesus has come to town. He has
chosen us and declared us clean of sin. He’s
called us and wants us to follow Him to a life of freedom filled grace and
healing. He’s just waiting for us
to join the little bear in saying,
“Ma!
Ma!
I
went to town.
Inside
Outside
Upside
down...all because I met Jesus and heard his call. Amen