The Second Sunday after Pentecost - Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 - The Rev. Colette Hammesfahr

 

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26, June 7, 2026

Our readings today are full of people who all have something in common. They all lack something important. Abram and Sarai lack a child and a secure future. Abraham and Sarah lack the natural ability to fulfill God’s promise. Matthew, the tax collector, lacks respect in the community. The hemorrhaging woman lacks health. The leader of the Synagogue lacks the power to save his daughter. The flute players and crowd lack hope in the face of death. The Pharisees, who you would think lack nothing, lack an awareness of their own needs.

Another thing all these people have in common is that none of them can fix what is missing. Abram cannot create descendants. Sarah cannot overcome her barrenness. Matthew cannot change the reputation that follows him everywhere he goes. The woman who has been hemorrhaging for twelve years cannot heal herself. Neither the leader of the Synagogue nor the mourners can raise the little girl from the dead. Their needs have carried them beyond the point of self-sufficiency.

All our characters this week receive God’s blessing – some in the form of a visible miracle, some in the form of a promise, and some in the form of a new identity. The blessing for Abram and Sarai is a promise and a future. Abraham and Sarah receive hope beyond all possibility in the form of children – God bringing life where there appears to be none. For Matthew, his blessing is a new calling and a sense of belonging. The hemorrhaging woman receives healing and restoration. The leader of the Synagogue has his daughter’s life restored and hope that he can trust Jesus in a situation that is beyond his control. His daughter receives the blessing of life itself. For the flute player and the mourning crowd, they are blessed with a glimpse of God’s power over death.

There’s a book series called Father Brown Stories. Father Brown is a priest-detective. In the book The Eye of the Appollo, Father Brown, with a serious curiosity, asks, “Can it cure the one spiritual disease?” The man he is talking to asks, “And what is the one spiritual disease?” To which Father Brown replies, “Oh, thinking one is quite well.”[1] The one spiritual disease is thinking you are quite well.

The Pharisees are probably the most interesting people in our readings today because they are the only ones who do not appear to be lacking anything. They know the scriptures. They have influence in the community. They have religious devotion. They are trying to live faithful lives. Yet Jesus challenges them more than anyone else.

When the Pharisees criticize Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus responds, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” Jesus is not saying that the Pharisees don’t have a sickness. He says they do not recognize their need for healing. The tax collector knows he is lost. The hemorrhaging woman knows she is desperate. The leader of the synagogue knows he is powerless. The Pharisees, however, don’t recognize their need. They believe they already have what everyone else is looking for.

This is why Father Brown's statement is so important. The one spiritual disease is thinking one is quite well. The danger is not simply our weakness. The danger is believing we do not need God.

This is what Paul is writing in Romans. Abraham was not righteous because he had high morals or because he was spiritual. Abraham was righteous because he trusted God. Paul writes that Abraham believed God's promise when there was no evidence that it could come true. His body was old. Sarah's womb was barren. Every visible sign suggested that God's promise was impossible. Yet Abraham trusted anyway.

Faith is not pretending everything is fine. Faith is trusting God when everything is not fine. Faith is not confidence in ourselves. Faith is confidence in God's ability to do what we cannot do ourselves.

That may be the common thread running through all of today's readings. Every blessing begins with someone reaching the end of their own resources. Abram leaves behind everything familiar because he trusts God's promise. Matthew leaves behind his tax booth because he trusts Jesus' invitation. The woman reaches out because she has nowhere else to turn. The synagogue leader falls at Jesus' feet because he has exhausted every other possibility. In every case, blessing doesn't begin with strength. It begins with dependence. Dependence on God.

Maybe that’s why the kingdom of God sometimes feels upside down. We often think that blessings belong to those who have it all together. The Bible tells a different story: blessings often come to those who know they don’t have it all together. Not because God loves suffering, but because people who know their need are often the most open to receiving God's grace.

In much of our lives, we try to hide our weaknesses. We try to manage our fears and convince ourselves that we are doing just fine. Our readings today give us a glimpse of how God acts in the world.

There is a hymn: "It Is Well with My Soul." I’ve mentioned it before in a past sermon. Horatio Spafford wrote it after all four of his daughters died in a shipwreck. It’s not the song of someone who thinks everything is fine. It’s a song written by someone who had every reason to be in pain and grief.  Yet, he wrote, “When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.” Notice that he doesn’t say everything is well. He says his soul is well. There is a difference. His circumstances remained heartbreaking, but his trust in God endured because he believed God was with him in the midst of it.

What is the cure for the spiritual disease of thinking we are quite well? Maybe it begins with telling the truth about ourselves. Maybe it begins with admitting our need. A cure removes the problem. Healing is different. Healing restores the person. Sometimes God grants both – healing and a cure. Sometimes the cure doesn’t come. But the promise we receive is that God can still bring healing – healing of trust, healing of hope, healing of relationship, healing of the soul. And that healing often begins at the moment we stop pretending we are quite well and place our need into God’s hands.

Abraham did not receive God's blessing because he had everything figured out. The hemorrhaging woman was not healed because she was strong. Matthew was not called because he was respected. They were blessed because they trusted God with the things in their lives that they could not fix themselves.

And that healing often begins at the moment we stop pretending we are quite well and place our need into God's hands. Amen.

 

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[1] Haverkamp, Heidi, ed. Everyday Connections: Reflections and Practices for Year A. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2022. Kindle edition.