The readings we have just heard can truly be described as action filled. Imagine how today’s press would report them.

In the reading from Romans St. Paul praises Abraham for having this utterly convincing faith. It was not an obedience to laws that made Abraham like that, it was Abraham's complete trust in the God of promises that made him leave his home in order to become the father of not just one nation, but of nations.

This same trust is what holds together the three ‘actions’ in the Gospel. Firstly Matthew, are patron saint, just as ordinary as all of us here. A tax collector, who hears Jesus’ call and really without thought turns to him and becomes a disciple. Matthew like all tax collectors was despised, for the taxes were not for the good of the community but for the enemy. In the eyes of the Pharisees, the religious leaders they were sinners. But Jesus wasn’t put off by the views of the Pharisees, he judged people by who they were not what they were.

So Jesus and Matthew go into a house and sit down for a meal, Just as people today are quick to criticise, judge, so were the Pharisees. They couldn’t resist speaking to the disciples about it. Like today’s media they liked to stir it up. So they asked the disciples "Why does your teacher do this? Why does he eat with sinners and tax collectors?" The Pharisees were so conscious of their, as they thought, moral superiority and high position in

the community, would never do this. Eating with someone meant acknowledging that the person is not inferior to you. Jesus overhears the conversation and speaks out that it is how you treat one another that matters to God, not the rituals that you keep.

Last Tuesday I heard a talk by Margaret Silf, who has written many books on Ignation Spirituality and one of her comments has really stuck in my mind. This is it.

What is true, is that Jesus of Nazareth never once said ‘worship me!’ but countless times he said ‘follow me’. and she went on to say ‘In fact “worshipping” Jesus from afar can be the best possible excuse for failing to follow him in the here and now.’ Jesus went about his world being the Christ, not teaching and preaching the Christ; and she carries on ‘This seems to me, is the first and crucial step towards engaging with a hungry and soul starved world. To give it, we must live it.

Isn’t that what Jesus meant when he said I desire mercy not sacrifice. Think how he responded when his meal was interrupted not by someone waning to follow him but by a father pleading that Jesus would follow him to his house and heal his daughter, this man not someone despised by the Pharisees but a man with authority, but he needed help, more than anything he wanted his daughter healed and he knew there was only one person who could do that. Jesus doesn’t say ‘ wait a minute I’m eating, or I’m busy in a meeting’ he responds immediately to the pain and to trust of this father and sets of for Jairus' house.

But the action doesn’t stop there for Jesus is once again interrupted, this time by a woman who is following him. Again she needed help, she had tried many doctors but she was now convinced that if could just touch Jesus she would be healed. And we know what happened - when she touched his cloak Jesus feels power leaving his own body to heal her. When we trust him he is there for us.

All through his ministry we find Jesus in the midst of people who felt unneeded, unloved, and unwanted.

I suppose most of us will have low points when we feel tested, but we know that if we keep the channels open Jesus is always here for us.

And this is what our ministry is all about........It’s about meeting people where they are... and lifting them up....not

judging them, this is something we need to keep in mind as we go out into the world. We are called to make disciples of all nations, we are called to invite everyone in....no matter what their situation in life may be.

We are called to bring hope in the midst of despair, and healing in the face of suffering.`

And these reading are so appropriate today. At our 10 o’clock service Julie Mitchell will be speaking on the work of WelCare, and this will be followed by our BBQ in aid of WelCare. A Christian organisation committed to reaching out, showing God’s love to all, giving hope when someone may be at their lowest, when life seems hopeless, and through encouragement and support showing people their potential and helping them to rebuild their lives.

I think this is what Margaret Silf meant, she didn’t mean we shouldn’t pray but she meant that prayer/worship must go hand in hand with obeying the command ‘follow me’. Remembering how Jesus accepted everyone, called everyone to be his disciple, he didn’t look to the rich and powerful but to the despised, the weak, the ordinary.

So in the readings we have three people who turned to Christ, the women who ventured out knowing she was despised, the father who knew that in going to Jesus he would be despised by the Pharisees, Matthew who was despised for his job but when he heard the call answered for he knew it was the way.

Jesus responds to all of them because he is of the Father. He knows that he has come for the sick, not the healthy; for those who recognize that he is filled with mercy, a power much more compelling than external sacrifice, empty religious ritual so loved by the Pharisees, it is the call to life, the call of the Father.