Come to the feast

Now perhaps you can turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 9 as we continue to work

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

! as we continue to work through this section of Jesus coming to establish the kingdom of God.

We come to verse 9 to verse 17 and at the center of this reading is the invitation from Jesus to come

to the feast of God's grace. So let's hear God's word again. 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. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house many tax collectors and sinners

came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this they asked his disciples

why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this Jesus said it is not the

healthy who need a doctor but those who are ill. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy

not sacrifice for I have not come to call the righteous but sinners. Then John's disciples

came and asked him how is it that we and the Pharisees fast often but your disciples do not fast.

Jesus answered how can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when

the bridegroom will be taken from them then they will fast. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an

old garment for the patch will pull away from the garment making the tear worse. Neither do people pour

new wine into old wine skins. If they do the skins will burst. The wine will run out and the wine skins

will be ruined. No. They pour new wine into new wine skins and both are preserved.

So I want to begin talking about a short story. It's one of my favorites. It's Babette's Feast by

Karen Blix and I've mentioned it before. It's a lovely book. It tells the story of a Parisian chef

who decides to leave that life behind and to head up to Norway to live in a remote religious community

up in a Norwegian fjord. It's a community that is aging, kind of fallen on hard times, dispirited,

discouraged and into that setting comes Babette. And no one knows her past. No one knows that she was

this famous chef but one day 14 years later she comes into a vast sum of money and her response

is to throw a lavish meal. To have shipped all the way from Paris the very best of food, the very best of

wine and to throw a great meal for the community. And the community at first are somewhat reluctant.

They're not used to such luxury and the idea of such expense being lavished on them. But during that meal

something wonderful happens. And the whole tale, the whole story of Babette's Feast is really a story of

grace breaking in. That through this lavish meal old wounds are healed. Forgiveness is extended.

Reconciliation takes place. Joy breaks out around this dinner table. And at the end of the meal

there's a general who stands up and gives a speech. And here's just a little fragment of it. He says this.

He says, grace, my friends, demands nothing from us but that we shall await it with confidence

and acknowledge it in gratitude. Grace, brothers, makes no conditions and singles out none of us in particular.

Grace takes all to its bosom and proclaims general amnesty. For mercy and truth have met together

and righteousness and bliss have kissed one another. That's Babette's Feast. And now we come to Matthew

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9 and a feast with Jesus. So Jesus, as we've seen, has been continuing his mission. He's been

bringing in the kingdom. He has been defeating the forces of evil. He has been forgiving sin. And now we encounter him

extending God's grace through an invitation to follow and through a meal. And eyes open wide

to the nature of God's kingdom and to the wide open invitation and welcome of King Jesus into the kingdom of God.

It is an announcement of God's grace that is shocking to some. It's a remarkable message that God himself

is acting to reconcile sinners to himself. That God's king, the son of God, is proclaiming amnesty

so that rebels might be brought home to God. And while as we see in the story, some are so scandalized

that they stay on the outside looking in, others receive the invitation with that grateful confidence

and they come to the feast of God's grace. And as Matthew paints the picture for us, and remember

Matthew is a key player in this story, we too are being drawn into the scene and we're being drawn in

to consider our own response to Jesus as he invites us to experience his grace this evening. So three

things to focus on. First, this invitation to follow the call of grace. That's the call to Matthew from

Jesus that we meet in verse 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. Last week I was

meeting with a friend from Central America and we ended up talking about street crime. And he was

telling me how his brother copes with the realities of street crime in the part of Central America where

he lives. And what happens is if he sees someone coming towards him who intends to rob him or do no good

of some kind, my friend's brother will make the first move, not to run, but to extend an act of

kindness. He said sometimes he'll offer him a cigarette. Sometimes he'll ask him if he needs a

ride somewhere. But all the time he's wanting to diffuse the situation to turn a potential enemy into a

friend. When I heard that, it's quite a striking story. It wouldn't be my instinct, I don't think.

It reminded me of another striking story, a chap by the name of Darrell Davis, who's a fairly significant

jazz pianist. But he made a decision about 30 years ago to actively befriend members of the KKK.

The KKK, that racist organization in America. And the striking thing about it is that Darrell Davis is an

African American. And over these years of deliberately after gigs, sitting down across drinks, trying to

establish friendship, some 200 white racist supremacists have turned off that path because Darrell Davis, who

they saw as an enemy, acted in friendship and bridged the gap. And that's what grace can do. And those stories,

in a sense, prepare the way for this far greater story in the mission of King Jesus. Because what we have here is

God's Messiah King, welcoming an enemy of God into his kingdom. Here is Jesus extending friendship and grace to

someone who had deliberately chosen to go against God and his way of life. Bringing Matthew into his inner circle,

into life of friendship with Jesus, the Savior. Because when we find Matthew sitting at a tax collector's booth,

we know a couple of things are true of him. We know that he has by choice made himself a traitor to his nation,

to the people of God. Because he's siding with Rome, the occupying force in first century Palestine.

And he is stealing from his own people. And worse even than that, we know that Matthew has made himself

a traitor to God. Because in siding with Rome, he has made himself unclean. So he is unable to worship

God. But actually, he has no intention of worshiping God because it's money, not God, that has his heart.

So we find him sitting at the tax booth. And it seems he is comfortable in his choice. But then

comes the call of Jesus, follow me. And we need to understand that is the call of God's grace.

Matthew is doing nothing to deserve this. He is not trying to earn his way in. And even if he was,

he is getting nowhere near that level. This invitation, we know, was shocking to so many

people who were around it, perhaps even shocking to Matthew himself. But it's entirely in keeping

with the powerful words of Jesus we've been encountering in these chapters. Kingdom words,

mission words. So back in chapter 8 and verse 26, there was Jesus and his disciples on a storm.

And Jesus speaks to the storm, be still. And immediately the storm stops.

And then Jesus, it was confronted by a demon-possessed man. Chapter 8, verse 32,

he simply told the demons to go and the man was healed.

Last week, we discovered that Jesus met a paralyzed man and he declared both,

your sins are forgiven and get up, take your mat and go. And now the Savior with authority,

the Savior who's bringing in the kingdom, calls Matthew, follow me. And immediately he got up

and followed. This money maker now becomes a disciple maker. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount

had declared, you cannot serve both God and money. And now in this moment, a new master has captured

Matthew's heart. And so he will gladly follow Jesus as an expression of his worship, leaving his money

behind. And we see, and we see it often in the ways that Jesus extends an invitation to people,

that it creates scandal. It creates opposition. And that makes sense.

If coming near to God was on the basis of goodness and being religious and being fit and acceptable

for God, because Matthew absolutely isn't that. But what we discover is that here is Jesus.

He is God in the flesh. And he's been given this mission to establish his kingdom on the earth.

And in people's hearts. And he operates in a completely different way.

Here is the one who does have the power and authority to call people to himself and to forgive sin

and to extend God's undeserved grace to the despised, to the outcast, to people like Matthew.

Two things this reminds us when we think about the call of God's grace. One, as Christians,

we should always have gratitude for our salvation. The way the Bible talks about our salvation makes

clear that the glory belongs to God and God alone for saving grace. The gift of faith is a gift that

comes from God himself. Think about one of the pictures that Jesus uses of himself. He describes

himself as the good shepherd. And as the good shepherd, he has come to rescue lost sheep, wandering sheep,

in the dark and in danger sheep. And in order to rescue us, Jesus says, John chapter 10, he must lay

John 10 · chapter mention

down his life for his sheep. And then having laid down his life for his sheep, he says, I must call my

sheep and they will hear my voice and they will come into the flock of God. So at every point,

it's down to Jesus. It's down to the grace of God. And the wonderful thing about the call of Jesus,

as it comes to Matthew, as it comes to each one of us, that call is come as you are.

It's not come once you've cleaned up your act, not come once you've left your old life behind,

once you have got yourself on the pathway of religion. He says, come to me. Rest. Give up

trying to earn your salvation. Rest in what I have freely extended to you. Come to Jesus for salvation.

Come to him to receive life. Because it's gift. It's the gift of forgiveness. It's the gift of new

life from God. So we are always to be a grateful people. But secondly, we recognize that the good

news that Jesus proclaims in this call of grace, it gives hope to all of us and to any of us.

When we think about why did Christ Jesus come? John Calvin put it this way. Jesus came to quicken

the dead, to justify the guilty and condemned, to wash the polluted, to rescue the lost from hell,

to clothe with his glory those who are covered with shame. And if we see ourselves in any of those

categories, we recognize, well, in Jesus there is hope. When we know I am not good enough for God.

When we are honest enough to admit that, yes, I have chosen to follow other masters and I've not given

God a second thought. When we recognize I am needy and I am unable to fix what I have broken,

then the message of Jesus and his salvation becomes good news. And each one of us here today,

we're invited to know this, that Jesus invites us to receive this grace that gives new life.

that we're invited to come to Jesus freely as the one who is able to declare our sins forgiven and

covered so that we are not condemned if we're in him. That we can freely come to the one who is able

and promises to wash all our guilt and shame and to bring us home to God and to clothe us with honor.

And so this evening, have you heard that call? Will you hear that call? Will you respond in faith

as Jesus delivers once again the call of grace?

The second thing we need to see, and it's very much related, is this connection between food,

friendship, and the demonstration of grace? It's there in verses 10 to 13. While Jesus was having

dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.

Some of us may be familiar with the author Rosario Butterfield. She's written a couple of

significant books in the last couple of years. One was called The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert,

which is the story of her coming to faith in Jesus from a very atheistic background out of the LGBT

community. And the second is called The Gospel Comes with a House Key. And that both tells her story

of the importance of hospitality in her own life, but also how she uses hospitality as an opportunity to

share her faith with others. And the common thread across those books and why I mention them is that

it was food and it was friendship around a family dinner table over months and years that led Rosario

Butterfield, ultimately to put her trust in Jesus. There was a Christian couple who listened to her

disagreements and who entered into discussions and who walked with her through various struggles until

she was ready to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. With the result that she and her family now live with the

idea that their dinner table is a place where grace can be extended. Where people from all walks of life can

come and share food and share conversation and come and ask questions and voice their objections and be heard

respectfully. A place where food and friendship becomes a place where grace can be learned of and

experienced and put into practice. And the pattern is here, isn't it? It's here in Jesus' actions at this

remarkable meal. Because what we've just read in verse 10 is that Jesus, the Son of God, is deliberately

sitting down and eating with God's enemies. In first century religious society, the Pharisees would say the tax

collectors and the sinners, the sinners, the sinners, these are the outsiders. These are the others. These are the

ones who are far away from God. They're not living God's way. And yet Jesus welcomes them in.

And in Jesus' day, and I think in our day as well, but maybe to a lesser extent, to share a meal with someone

was a really significant act. A signal of friendship. A demonstration of unity. A way to break down walls of

division. An invitation to reconciliation. And the Son of God extends that to sinful people. A demonstration

of grace. Jesus is also extending mercy. Look at verse 13. So after hearing that the grumbles of his

opponents, Jesus says, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. And Jesus there quotes

from the Old Testament from the prophet Hosea. Hosea chapter 6. And God sent Hosea to speak to a very

Hosea 6 · chapter mention

religious society. A society that still had the form of worship. But they didn't have the heart of

worship. They thought, well, so long as we're doing sacrifices and so long as we're going to the temple,

then God will be pleased with us regardless of our heart. And the message of the prophet

becomes the message of Jesus. Have you forgotten who God is?

God is compassionate and merciful. And so he is looking for mercy. Jesus is God. And so he demonstrates

mercy around this mealtime. And Jesus is also enacting grace. Verse 13. For I have not come to call the

righteous, but sinners. Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? For this reason.

I've not come to call the righteous. I've come to call sinners. And we have this remarkable reality

that Jesus is none other than the Holy Son of God who has come in the flesh and he has come near and he

is moving towards people not to judge, but to save and to extend God's grace. That sinful people,

broken people, despised people, rebellious people can come near and know the joy of God's welcome.

A gift they didn't expect. A gift they could never earn. A gift that nobody else was extending to them.

The Pharisees were driving them away. But Jesus does the opposite because Jesus is on a mission of grace.

But we notice, don't we, in the midst of the joy and the celebration, the scowls and the frowns of the

Pharisees. Why is that? Tim Chester writes this, the Pharisees knew God's kingdom was going to be a party.

Their objection is with the guest list. They thought when God's Messiah was sent, he would absolutely side

with righteous people. And the Pharisees were sure and certain that they were righteous and God would

accept them. And then they hear this, God's king comes and says, he's come to call sinners.

They had lived their whole lives thinking acceptance from God came by performance,

through ceremony and ritual and religion and separation and trying in one's own strength to

be pure and holy. And now they discover Jesus saying God accepts people by his grace.

They were so used to labeling and despising anyone who didn't measure up to their standards. But they

learned that when Jesus comes, God's Messiah comes, he operates in a whole different way. He celebrates

when those who need mercy draw near. He rejoices to extend God's gracious invitation

and so this meal becomes a demonstration of grace. But sadly,

there are those on the outside who want no part of it.

As we think about this mealtime and this demonstration of grace, it's a reminder to us,

I think, that we need to always guard our hearts. It's really easy to point the finger at the Pharisees.

How could they act like that? But it can be a really easy attitude to fall into.

I think we often have that default way of looking at life. This is my idea of the good life.

This is what I need to do in order to make it, to reach the standard. And this is how I regard those

who mess up or who don't measure up. And we also, in our own minds, can become really judgmental and critical.

And we can, even as Christians, we can assume

that we are somehow earning God's favor.

And so we need to be careful always, I think, to guard our hearts.

To learn to remember and to preach the gospel to ourselves daily.

To rest in and rejoice in God's grace.

And to learn to celebrate when we see God's grace in action in other people's lives,

in other churches, in other nations.

To be glad as we see God's work.

This story also reminds us that we need to go to Dr. Jesus for grace.

Look at verse 12.

Again, as the Pharisees have grumbled,

why did your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

Jesus said,

it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill.

The religious leaders, in other words, Jesus saying,

you expect a Messiah who will keep far away from sinful people,

hurting people, people who need help.

And Jesus says, that's not the way.

Jesus can only do his work by being among the broken,

being among the spiritually poor and needy.

And that's why he feasts with sinners.

Because that feasting is a demonstration of God's lavish love and kindness.

That would forgive sin, that would grant new life.

Not because they earned it, but because God loves to be merciful and gracious.

I think as we recognize this example from Jesus,

we are reminded again of the significance for us as Christians,

of the practice of hospitality.

So maybe one implication for us is in our own way to go through a feast.

To recognize that the place of hospitality in our own mission and witness,

that we would make room in our homes, in our hearts, in our schedules,

to extend something of God's grace and mercy to others.

Not necessarily something fancy and elaborate,

but having a heart that wants to show something of God's love

to those who need to discover it.

I think it's significant that folks like Sam Chan,

who's a prominent evangelist,

when he's asked what's the greatest tool

for the church in the 21st century in reaching the world,

he points to hospitality.

If we want to share faith with our friends,

people like Sam Chan would say what we need

is to make room.

Because when we extend hospitality of any kind,

whether we sit down for a coffee or we go for a walk

or we sit down for a meal,

it's creating the room for conversation

to move from the surface towards deeper things.

It's as we welcome people in

that some of those barriers perhaps are broken down,

that perhaps people feel able to share their stories with us

and we can share our stories with them.

Hospitality is one way that people can see,

here's what faith looks like in action.

Because we're not as hospitable, I guess,

as a culture as perhaps we used to be.

And hospitality within the church or among Christians

is one way to make our message more plausible.

We go through a feast

because that's what God does for us.

God throws a feast.

It's that wonderful image, isn't it,

in the climax of the father's dealings

with the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Remember the son who has walked away in rebellion

and treated his father shamefully

and has made a mess and a wreck of his life.

But when he comes back in repentance,

the father embraces him.

And he clothes him with honor.

And then there's the joyful feast.

The picture of God's joy when sinners repent.

God's joy in showing saving grace.

One last thing to say,

and again, it's related.

It's the idea that we are invited to feast on God's grace.

Look at verse 14 into verse 15.

Then John's disciples came and asked him,

how is it that we and the Pharisees fast often,

but your disciples do not fast?

Jesus answered,

how can the guests of the bridegroom mourn

while he is with them?

And then he draws attention to the fact

that the cross is coming.

The time will come

when the bridegroom will be taken from them,

then they will fast.

So we've had a couple of wedding invites recently,

I imagine.

Many of us have had wedding invites.

And we know when we get a wedding invitation,

we know when the date is coming,

that there are expectations.

That we know that there are appropriate

types of clothing to wear.

And we expect, as guests,

there will be a particular kind of food

that we will be eating.

And both of those,

the clothing that's worn,

the food that is eaten,

is a demonstration

that this is a day of celebration

and not lamentation.

We are going to be invited to feasting

and not fasting.

When we think about a couple getting married,

this is the day when their waiting is over.

It's the time for them to joyfully be united

as husband and wife.

And so Jesus picks up this imagery

to say when the bridegroom is here,

it's a time for joy,

it's a time for feasting,

not a time of fasting.

And there's something so significant

about Jesus' choice of imagery.

Because he's saying something about himself

and he's saying something about the kingdom.

So in the Old Testament,

you could go to a book like Hosea

and you would discover the Lord

declaring that he enters into

a covenant relationship,

a marriage relationship with his people,

that he is the bridegroom

and his people, the church, is his bride.

And then Jesus comes

and he takes that title for himself

to say I am the son of God

and I am the bridegroom

and I have come to win a bride for myself.

And so it's not a day of fasting,

it's a day of feasting.

When they ask,

when John's disciples say,

how come you don't fast?

Jesus knows and they know

that in the Old Testament,

fasting was often connected with waiting,

waiting for the Messiah.

And so fasting would sometimes come with a prayer,

come Lord God,

come to rescue us

and to restore us,

send your Messiah to rescue

and to restore.

So why is it feasting,

not fasting with Jesus?

Because he is the Lord who has come.

Now that rescue mission

has been put into action

and he is in the business

of restoring

people's lives

back to God.

and he will do that

as he alludes to

by way of the cross

and then the resurrection.

And then he moves from there

to those two images

in verse 16 and 17

where he says,

you shouldn't try and patch up old clothes

with a new patch

because it will just make things worse

and you shouldn't try and put new wine

into old wineskins

because they'll just burst.

New wine needs new wineskins.

And we might think,

what on earth has that got to do

with everything

that's been going on so far?

Well, as we kind of come to a close,

let's try and draw

two lessons from that

that pull things together.

With the coming of Jesus,

he is in effect

working out that principle

of out with the old

and in with the new.

He is declaring to the Pharisees

and to us as well

that because Jesus the Messiah

is now here

and he is bringing in

the kingdom of God

and that's a kingdom

marked by grace,

this is something radically new

than what the Pharisees

were offering.

He's saying those old forms

of religion,

those old structures of religion,

they cannot contain

this good news,

this new reality.

And so Jesus declares,

out with the old

and in with the new.

And so it's out with

any kind of human standard

word of dividing people

into righteous and sinner

and saying,

if I can just work hard enough

then I'll be one of the good guys

and God will accept me.

It's out with any idea

of human performance

to try and merit

God's approval.

It's out with those old ways

of external practices

to try and impress God

and win his favor.

But rather it's in

with the gospel of grace.

Remember Paul's words

in Ephesians,

for it is by grace

you have been saved

through faith

and this not from yourself.

It is the gift of God.

And it's in

with the new covenant

in Jesus' broken body

and shed blood

through the cross

and the resurrection

in Jesus

that we now have a new heart

and we now have new life

with God.

We have forgiveness

by God's grace.

God's spirit now dwells

within us

and he is changing us

from the inside out.

Now we have in Jesus

a savior

for any and all

who will believe

and who will come

to the feast.

So it's out with the old

and it's in with the new.

And in this meal

and in this welcome

we're also reminded

that outsiders

are being welcomed in

by God's king.

This meal with Jesus

is not a strange one-off

in the storyline of the Bible.

It fits with a key

biblical theme

that the God of grace

is in the business

of welcoming

rebels and strangers

and outsiders

and outcasts

and enemies.

And that's profoundly good news

for all of us.

That we can be drawn

into life with God

through faith in Jesus.

It was there

back in Genesis 12

in the promise to Abraham

that one of his seed

would be a blessing

to all nations.

And we heard it again

from the prophet Isaiah

Isaiah 25 · chapter mention

chapter 25.

God will prepare a feast

on his holy mountain.

A great picture

of his lavish generosity

and who's it for?

It's a feast of rich food

for all peoples.

As you read the gospels

as you read the story

of the church

in the New Testament

we see just how wide

God's gracious invitation

runs.

It runs to tax collectors

those labeled as sinners.

It runs to prostitutes.

It runs to dying criminals.

It runs to Gentiles

from all nations

being brought in.

We heard

at the beginning

that picture

from Revelation

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7

of the extent

of God's kingdom

worshippers of Jesus

from everywhere

from every culture

from every language

bound together

with Jesus

at the center.

That in God's world

of perfect love

for all eternity

there will be worship

there will be people

enjoying God's grace

united in Jesus.

And that reminds us

of our calling

as a church.

Our mission

as a church

is to be a place

where anyone

can find a welcome

and can hear a welcome

from King Jesus.

That Jesus

is still extending

a wide open invitation

to all kinds

of people

however messed up

or mixed up

someone might feel

for the hurting

and for the homeless.

And this Jesus

who on that day

threw a feast

and welcomed people

on the cross

would throw wide

his arms

to demonstrate

God's love

and God's grace

to invite each one

of us

to come to the feast.

to enjoy life

with Christ

the bridegroom

to receive for ourselves

the grace of God.

and let them

turn to the ending

of the

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