Communion/Christian Education Sunday June 6, 2010 "A Teaching Moment” Reverend Michael D. Powell Matthew 9:9-13

            Jesus was a teacher. The essence of his teaching, by word and by deed, is that God loves all people and ministers to us whenever and wherever we are. I'm sure the teachers among us this morning will attest to the truth that they can burn the midnight oil preparing lesson plans, but their readiness to teach is only part of the learning equation. The most profound teaching occurs not when a teacher simply shares some bit of wisdom from a book, but when a student somehow learns the truth of the wisdom in their own personal experience. This happens in what is called an "aha experience," or a "teaching moment." A good teacher is one who recognizes the teaching moment when it occurs and is able to make the "aha" connection between lesson and experience. This morning's Gospel lesson is the record of just such a "teaching moment," and it concludes with Jesus saying, "Go and learn what this means."

            This morning we’re honoring our Christian Education team and presenting Bibles to our students.  Traditionally, Christian Education has pretty much been understood as what happens on Sunday mornings, and perhaps Sunday evenings.  If we expand that definition a little, we recognize that it includes youth group, Mission Trips and Church camp experiences.  The common denominator in all this is that we provide the leadership, the facility, and pretty much define the agenda – inviting others to come participate in our program.  That’s not a bad model.  The big bad world needs some safe spaces, some warm and welcoming experiences of “sanctuary,” where God’s love is proclaimed.  The story we read in scripture this morning, however, is a challenge to think in new ways about how Christian education can work. 

            You've all heard the old wisdom, "One bad apple spoils the whole barrel." There's also a less well-known aphorism, "You can't run with dogs without getting fleas!" These traditional sayings are simplistic attempts to express a partial truth or a potential danger but, the fact is, they're not the whole truth and the “danger” may very well be worth the risk when it comes to offering God’s love. There are exceptions to the bad apple and fleas motif, exceptions that open the door to new understandings, to new ways of teaching and new opportunities for learning.

            This morning's Gospel lesson is about Jesus calling Matthew to be a student, and Matthew was a bad apple. He was a tax collector, and tax collectors were like mangy, flea-bitten dogs to the Jewish people. They were corrupt and dishonest traitors to their own nation, and if you cared about the company you kept, you just didn't hang out with their kind. Nevertheless, Jesus invited Matthew to become his disciple, and Matthew immediately got up from his desk and followed Jesus. Now what's going to happen? Sure enough, the next scene opens with Jesus sitting in Matthew's house surrounded by even more bad apples; like attracts like. Matthew threw a party to celebrate his conversion, and who do you expect to be on his guest list? Who were his friends? It seemed pretty obvious that Jesus had gone to the dogs.

            That's what the Pharisees were muttering about behind his back. The Pharisees believed in showing hospitality to those whom they considered to be repentant sinners. They'd invite those who were ready to become obedient to their laws and traditions, in other words to become more like them, to come to their synagogue (their church) and join their Sabbath (their Sunday) school. But Jesus went farther; he actually went to where the so-called sinners were hanging out. Sitting around in Matthew's house made it look as though he actually enjoyed their company and loved them with the love of God –while they were “still lost in sin!” You might want to reference Romans 5:8 on that last comment! The Pharisees were scandalized, and that's what creates the teaching moment. That's when Jesus says, "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' for I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners."

Jesus is quoting a traditional teaching from Hosea 6:6, but the ancient wisdom suddenly takes on new meaning and becomes one of those "aha" teaching moments when applied in this situation. What he's saying to the Pharisees is that focusing on their own righteousness, taking care of their own and making sure that they didn't associate with any bad apples for fear of getting spoiled themselves was not the purpose of God's church. The new teaching that Jesus was challenging them with was the possibility that, by the grace of God, one good apple can make a whole barrel of bad apples better!

            Leaving aside the whole language of "sinners" and "good" and "bad" apples for a moment, I'd like for us to think about what Jesus is teaching us in this passage. He's talking about the mission and the ministry of our church, about going to people where they are and offering them what they need, unconditionally. Who do you suppose the "Matthews" in Salem are? Do they have to become United Methodists first in order to be deserving of our ministry? Ask yourself, what would Jesus do?

          Fred Craddock tells about a church in East Tennessee that he pastored during his student days. It was a beautiful little church, a white frame building, pretty as a picture. They were good people in that church too, a warm and loving church family, fine people. But when Craddock arrived he noticed something. He noticed that none of the new people in town, the people who had come to work on the big government project over at Oak Ridge, all those people living in trailers and hastily-built shanties with all those children, none of those people were in that church. Craddock says he called the church board together and told them, "We need to reach out to those folk who are here. They're close. Here's our mission." And the chairman of the board said, "Oh, I don't think so. They wouldn't fit in here." Craddock protested, "But they need the Gospel. They need the church." "No, I don't think so," said the chairman. And the next Sunday night the board passed a resolution: "Members will be admitted to this church from families who own property in the county."

Years later, Craddock took a trip back to that little town. He searched out the church and found it. It was still a pretty place, pretty as a picture. And now the parking lot was full, all kinds of cars and pickups all over the place. And out front of that pretty little church was a sign that read: "Barbecue-chicken, ribs, pork." It wasn't a church anymore. The church had died. It was a restaurant now, and it was full, full of all kinds of people, sitting in those pews, eating barbecue. The building was packed and Craddock said to his wife, "It's a good thing this isn't a church anymore. These folks would not be welcome."

            In the fall our Community Connections Team is organizing a community survey to determine just what the needs of our community are that Morningside might be able to help with.  I suspect that this is a teaching moment that is challenging us to make the connection between who God is calling us to be as a church, what Christian Education really means, and how our ministry can truly be a witness and a blessing, helping to meet the needs of our local community.

            What do you believe Christ is calling us to do and be?  As we share in the sacrament that reminds us of God’s great, unconditional love, let’s contemplate ways we can share that love with others.  That’s the essence of Christian education.  We are all called to be teachers.  Thanks be to God.