One of the first rules of preaching I was taught was
Don’t try to do everything.
Which was part cautionary tale for the would-be preacher and part revision of a previous first rule of preaching: sermons need three themes.
The new idea replaces the old. Focus on one theme and repeat it. No longer come up with three themes and connect them. Keep it simple.
This relatively new school credo of simplicity in preaching seems to be the most obvious response to a text like this one from Matthew. And not just because of the donut hole in the middle.
We’re drawn to one part of the story. So pick one and preach on it.
The Two obvious themes
In the first part, Jesus calls Matthew and finds himself eating with tax collectors and sinners. Then, surprise, surprise, he’s confronted for it.
In the second part, Jesus is asked to save a girl who has died, is interrupted by a woman who has experienced hemorrhaging for the last twelve years, and in the end, heals them both.
The generous preacher will, of course, feel compelled to pick one or the other. The idiot will try to do it all.
Why I’m always an idiot
That first rule of preaching is predicated on two things:
- preaching is about communicating a theme
- we think people are stupid
I think both of these are simplistic renderings of the preaching experience.
And more over, what people have expressed to me more often than any other over the last two decades of preaching are:
- I didn’t know that and
- I want to know scripture better.
What I have not heard is:
- Just tell me one thing.
My assumption in the mainline is that people want to get a better understanding of the story. And they want to connect it to their lives.
We (rightly) assume people want simple. But what if simple is not only defined this way?
So then we don’t just pick a part of the reading and focus only on that, we have to deal with the reading itself and its context.
Because people want to understand. And perhaps our job is figuring out how to make that easier.
In other words, I change the paradigm.
It isn’t picking one theme among the obvious assigned for that day. I’m picking a theme that would make sense if we were all following along and arrived at this point in the gospel.
And when I think that way, an obvious connection between the first part and the second begins to form. A connection that also makes sense when we include the text in between:
Relief for the suffering.
And to make a slightly finer point, suffering that is ignored by the powerful.
This is a pretty simple theme. And we get there by alleviating the tension found in reading the whole story. Because it all is connected to the theme.
Other options
None of this is to say you can’t focus on part. While I’m drawn to an image that reverberates for me in the second half this week, I found myself focusing more on the first half! Why? Because that was the sermon that was writing itself.
Here are some other options for themes we could explore with this text.
Hospitality — This is a great opportunity to talk, not just about welcome, but hospitality. How do we help people feel at home with us?
Hope — Jesus provides hope for tax collectors and sinners who get nothing from other religious leaders. With Jesus, they are safe.
Conflict — The rejection Jesus receives for being hospitable to the rejected, and the challenge of doing the same today.
Healthcare — The disparities in care offered to women, particularly women of color in American healthcare.
Healing — The nature of healing/curing and what that means for Jesus and for us. Jesus just spent all of chapter 8 healing people.
Mercy v. Sacrifice — Jesus argues that God desires one more than the other. What ways do we try to make both of equal value? Is this not a rejection of Jesus?
Rules — When in doubt, we can always look at the rules and the way Jesus breaks them. And what that means for us.