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Text for this Sunday's sermon at The River:  Matthew 9:9-13 (NLT)

Okay... wait. I'm confused. I thought once we decided to follow Jesus, we were supposed to separate ourselves from the "sinners" who helped bring us down in the first place. I mean, it's a biblical pattern, right? When God called Moses to lead the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt, He led them into the wilderness and taught them to become separated from that which is unholy, unclean. Yes, eventually, they would enter into the promised land of milk and honey - that is, the Hebrew people would re-integrate with the world around them to reveal the power of Almighty God. But nevertheless, when God calls his people out of Egypt... out of bondage... He commands them to devote themselves entirely to Him and Him alone. He is a jealous God and simply won't take second place!

But Matthew just doesn't get it yet... perhaps he'll become a better disciple someday, but in this passage he's still dining with those "scummy" tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. Tsk, tsk... doesn't he understand that Christians don't hang out with the riff-raff of the world? My denomination has an old saying that I used to hear quite often while living in the Midwest: "I don't smoke or chew, or hang out with people who do." Ya, amen brother... don't have anything to do with those smelly "tobacco" sinners... we all know that Jesus hates those kinds of people, right?

Uh... wrong.

In what (at least on the surface) appears to be a reversal of the Old Testament pattern of becoming separate from that which threatens our faith in the Father, Jesus does something that gives the Pharisees something to really wag their tongues about: He actually sat down and ate dinner with those scumbags! Can you imagine that? What if they told dirty jokes, or said some bad Greek words? Good golly, what if they actually lit up a cigar?! What on earth was he thinking anyway? Better question in this context: What the Hell was Jesus thinking? After all, God absolutely can NOT be in the presence of sin, right? There's no way the Son of God would lower himself to the practice of breaking bread with irreligious trash like that. To do so is a slap in the face of piousness and all that is good in Israel. Lets' face it... Jesus simply did not meet the high standards of the Pharisees!

Ya... but I'm sorta thinking that he DID meet the even higher standard of Yahweh. That of love.

I mean, let's look at it this way: Why would the Son of God come to this world  - this world of sin - and not hang out with sinners? Aren't we the very focus of God's willingness to move in to the neighborhood? Warts and all, aren't humans the apple of God's eye? The creature made in His image? And if God himself made the effort to come and save the world... exactly who did he come to save anyway? The self-assured religious leaders who knew the Law inside and out (or so they thought)? Or did he come to save the lost?  The ignorant? The broken? The hungry and thirsty? The destitute? The scum of the earth?

If you were an expert swimmer, it would be kind of weird if someone jumped in the water, swam out to where you were, grabbed you from behind, and "saved" you from drowning, right? Uh... thanks, dude... but I was just doing fine on my own. No... a lifesaver only looks for those who are splashing about, taking water into their lungs, or possibly even disappearing under water for several moments at a time. Oh, we "experts" can always learn new things about swimming from the master lifesaver. You know, new techniques, cutting-edge information, etc. He loves to teach the good swimmers how to swim better... but hey, he's even more concerned about saving those who are drowning. In fact, the master lifesaver seems to know that most often the best way to save everyone in danger is to instruct the experienced swimmers how to look for, and empower them as jr. lifesavers to go and save the desperate ones about to go under.

Funny how he doesn't just place us in a new pool of our own and tell us to have fun with the other good swimmers. The "clean" people. Nope. He may take us out for a season... but eventually He sends us back into that nasty, dirty public pool. He tells us to swim with the "non-swimmers". He doesn't suggest - he commands us to spend time with the "dirty" people who do bad things (like pee in the pool)... He sends us to be with the idiots who splash everyone around them just for fun, and make friends with the guy with goggles on who keeps bumping into everyone 'cause he's not paying attention!

God Connects us to Himself, then to His Community, then to His world...

That is, he leads us where we are willing to go. What part of the pool is he leading you these days?