And the one who
was seated on the throne said, “See I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words
are trustworthy and true” (Revelation 21:5).
What does the
word “new” mean? What does it mean to be
new? Does “new” mean Christmas morning,
when we leap from our warm, cozy beds and wrap our bodies in robes and our feet
in slippers in order to dash down the stairs in order to immerse ourselves in
the surprises that the jolly, old saint has left for us? Does “new” mean Opening Day, when the smell
fresh cut grass and recently roasted peanuts saturate the air? What happened last year is in the past, and a
season of wide-open possibility lays before us.
Does “new” mean opportunity, such as that which comes with starting your
latest position? The aroma of change and
possibility marinating the air as you place that first box of books on the
desk. Or maybe it’s just the new paint
smell. Do we understand what “new”
means? Can we quantify “new”? Can we see “new” from where we are? It is a broad concept, yet I think we’ll
recognize it when we see it.
While we
understand what “new” means, do we understand what it means to make something
“new”? An artist sits before a blank
canvas, staring into the deep recesses of her creative process as she ponders
what to paint next. A theology student
sits before a blank computer screen, staring into the deep recesses of his
creative process as he ponders what to write about (or more commonly known as
why he fool heartedly took another Dr. Oster course). A couple sits before a grainy monitor in a
dark room, staring into the deep recesses of the human creative process as they
ponder what to name this child. “O LORD,
our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth” (Psalm 8:1)! Human experience is brimming, exploding, with
newness! Yet we can miss it if we are
not paying attention.
Scene 1: Jesus Calls a New Person
Our text for today comes from a collection
of short scenes that is nestled in between two healing passages in Matthew
9. In many ways these three passages
have been some of the most perplexing to scholars, ministers and
laypeople. Yet, if we take the time to
look hard enough and long enough, we just might something powerful in these
subtle scenes.
The first scene is only a single
verse, v. 9: “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting
at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.” How simple, yet how astonishing! Jesus is walking along the beautiful Galilean
shore when He casts His glance over to the docks. There He sees Matthew sitting in his office doing
what he does—collecting taxes. We do not
know what time of day Jesus visits Matthew.
We do not know if Jesus had any business with Matthew. We do not know if Jesus and Matthew had a
prior relationship, such as if they had attended the same synagogue as
kids. Yet, what we know is that Jesus
went over to Matthew and simply said, “Follow me.” No pomp, no circumstance; simply “Follow
me.” However the astonishing part is
that Matthew appears to leave everything and do exactly that—he follows the
itinerant preacher. In answering this
call to follow, this call to become a disciple, Matthew accepts an invitation
to a new life.
Scholars and psychoanalysts alike
have spilt a great deal of ink over the calling of Matthew. We seek to know what Matthew’s motivations were
for following Jesus. Or was it something
about Jesus’ demeanor or communication style that compelled this secular tax
collector to follow this spiritual leader.
“We cannot imagine someone immediately getting up from his job and
following Jesus without some significant subconscious reason,” writes Tom Long.[1] Yet that is exactly what happened. In one single word, Jesus calls a new person.
Scene 2: Jesus
Creates a New Community
However calling a new person to
discipleship is not enough for Jesus to call it a day. While the borders of the Kingdom of Heaven
grow only in people, it requires people to grow the Kingdom of God. And kingdom growth begins and ends with table
fellowship. Jesus got hungry, and Jesus
loved to eat. We should never think that
fellowship meals and potlucks are new inventions. God has been working His missional magic
through food since Genesis 3. And Jesus,
as the incarnation of God on Earth, works in similar ways.
In order for there to be salvation,
there must be people who need to be saved.
And Jesus found plenty of people who needed salvation the evening He
called Matthew (9:10). We have no idea
what Jesus talked about with His party guests.
Did He preach His one really big sermon?
Did He tell that story about the traveling salesman who found that
massive pearl? Did He tell that joke
about the Pharisee and the tax collector praying at the Temple? Well, we don’t know what Jesus said to His
guest. However, we know fully what He
told to His party crashers. When the
religious leaders criticized Him for eating and
drinking with the rebellious rabble (9:11), Jesus launched a missional and
pastoral volley: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who
are sick. Go and learn what this means,
‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I
have come to call not the righteous but sinners” (9:12-13). Given the context, this would have shocked
the religious leaders! By connecting two
passages from Psalms, Jesus announces that His mission is to those who are
desperately seeking a spiritual vision that will give them meaning and purpose,
not to those who take pride in their self-professed ceremonial piety. The sick need a doctor; the lost need a
savior; those who seek righteousness want to be satisfied. And this is exactly what happened. In one single word, Jesus creates a new
community.
Scene 3: Jesus
Casts a New Vision
Yet, even creating a new community
is not enough for Jesus to call it a day.
While the borders of the Kingdom of Heaven grow only in people, it
requires people to grow the Kingdom of God.
And kingdom growth requires movement in order to progress. William Willimon cautions newly-appointed
ministers from changing anything of significance in their new congregations
during the first year.[2] Jesus didn’t take Willimon’s course in
seminary. This does not mean that Jesus
changed things simply for the sake of changing things. Yet I think it is safe to say that Jesus
could be classified as a “progressive”—a progressive with a purpose, that is. Jesus was certainly not intolerant of
tradition, unless it stood in the way of advancing the mission of God.
This seems to be what is happening
when some of John’s disciples come to Jesus and ask Him about fasting
(9:14). (Obviously they missed the
tweets about the previous scene.) Once
Jesus recovered from His self-inflicted face-palm, He says to them: “The
wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can
they? The days will come when the
bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (9:15). In short, this is a new time with a new
purpose. “No one sews a piece of
unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a
worse tear is made. Neither is new wine
put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled,
and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so
both are preserved” (9:16-17). Progressives
love this passage because we think it gives us a license to do whatever we want
in the name of Christ. Being missional,
we claim, means changing things up and re-inventing the religious wheel. Yet, Jesus did not come “to abolish but to
fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). As in the
spirit of the Teacher from Ecclesiastes, Jesus reminds these seekers that there
is “a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Yet, people of faith are to be sensitive to
the time and to embrace the leading of the Spirit so that the “new wine” of
God’s mission is not wasted by forcing it into conventional modes. Fasting is fine, Jesus argues, yet not when
God has spread a sumptuous banquet before us.
And this is exactly what is happening.
And in one single word, Jesus casts a new vision.
Jesus calls new people to join a new
community in order to participate in a new vision. It seems that the words of Revelation 21 are,
indeed, quite trustworthy and true: “And the one who was seated on the throne
said, ‘See I am making all things new.’
Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true’
(Revelation 21:5).
[1]Thomas G. Long, Matthew, Westminster Bible Companion
(Louisville: Westminster/ John Knox Press, 1997), 103.
[2]William H.
Willimon, Pastor: The Theology and
Practice of Ordained Ministry (Nashville: Abingdon, 2002), 279.
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