Sunday 7th June, 1st Sunday after Trinity

In our Gospel reading today Jesus does his usual trick of flipping the logic of a question upside-down. He is spending time with “tax collectors and sinners”, people whose behaviour puts them beyond the boundaries of polite, upstanding religious society. But when asked why he does so, he argues that it is not these peoples’ actions that make them sinners, but an underlying condition that drives their behaviour. It’s their state, rather than their actions, that need to be dealt with, and he can’t do that without getting up close and personal with them. Matthew underlines his point by surrounding this saying with stories about people whose suffering is in no way their own fault, but whose need of healing is absolute.

I am (I’m told by my nearest and dearest) a bad patient. When I’m ill I am crotchety, bad-tempered, self-obsessed, lacking awareness of others’ needs, sometimes downright selfish. Being ill brings out the worst in me. My bad behaviour doesn’t make me ill, but being ill brings out my bad behaviour.

In the same way, says Jesus, sinful behaviour is a symptom of an underlying disease.  People live in all kinds of need: loneliness, lasting trauma, chronic pain, poverty, exploitation. Sometimes that drives them to behave in ways other people don’t like. Asking them to change their behaviour is pointless if their underlying need isn’t met. What they need is a healing dose of acceptance and love, expressed by someone who can see them as God does. Don’t we all?
Every blessing
Roger