Expelled

Kevin was the toughest kid in my grade five class. At age ten, Kevin could swear like a truck driver. He had actual biceps on his upper arms. He’d roll up his sleeve, clench his fist and say, “Look at this,” as a ball of muscle would pop up. We were very impressed. Kevin taught our little gang of friends how you could get chocolate bars “for free” at the local variety store. His parents let him own a pellet gun. And he never listened to the teachers in class. I remember the day he was expelled.

“Kevin, would you please stop talking in class and pay attention.”

“I don’t have to listen to you!”

“Kevin, if you don’t settle down I will send you to the office!”

“Big deal!”

All the rest of us kids were just in awe. This was the greatest thing!

“Kevin, you leave this classroom and go directly to the principal’s office!”

Kevin picked up the books on his desk and he threw them right at the teacher. It was the best day of school ever! Kevin got the strap. He was expelled from school for a week. We kind of wondered about that. We could understand how getting the strap was a punishment, but not having to come to school for a week,we couldn’t figure that one out. Well, I went by Kevin’s place one day after school while he was expelled. I hadn’t ever been to his home before. He never invited us over, but always came to play at the homes of us other boys.

I knocked on the door and I heard someone yell from inside, “Kevin someone’s at the door. Go see who it is.” Only the language was a little more colourful and salty than that.

I stood in the little foyer by the front door. I could see into the kitchen. The sink piled high with dirty dishes. To my right was the living room. A large woman in a flannel nightgown … but it was four in the afternoon. She sat leaning back in a chair, an overflowing ashtray by her right hand, a tall glass of some yellow tinted liquid at the table to her left. The TV was playing some afternoon soap opera. Lying on the floor was a plate with a smear of jam – the crust from a piece of toast nearby. The carpet was filthy and stained. It may have been vacuumed about a hundred years before.

To this day, I still remember the look and smell of the place. And I remember it so well because, to me, it was like a strange, foreign land. The home I lived in was cleaned every day by my mom. Nobody ever said a swear word. My Dad would have one beer on Christmas Day with the next door neighbour, and not take a drink the other 364 days. TV watching was strictly limited, and you always had to do your homework first.

Kevin was expelled because he didn’t, or wouldn’t, or couldn’t, or never been taught to, follow the rules. So, to preserve the integrity of the education system, the principal & the school board, to maintain authority and good order, had to expel Kevin. Expelled to go, be in that home, all day long, every day, for a week.

Expelled - it’s our word for the day. From time to time the church has resorted to that tactic. About 25 years ago, in the area where I was serving, a new Presbyterian church was planted. The minister and the steering committee in charge of forming this new little congregation decided it should be a “high demand” church. That means they had rules about who was in and who was out. In their proposal they talked about “handpicking” the first members of the congregation from across the GTA, and then they went on to list the rules for membership they had adopted:

1. To worship with the congregation each Lord's day unless prevented by employment responsibilities, sickness or absence from the community.

2. To actively participate in the program of the church according to talents and gifts.

3. To regularly support the church program financially through proportional giving – most commonly 10% of their income.

4. To adopt the Christian lifestyle of the body that is separate from the world and dedicated to God.

And it continued on listing the demands and expectations which they would have of new members to this congregation. If you didn’t live by their rules, you couldn’t belong. You would be kicked out – expelled!

And one more story. A few years ago I accepted an offer for an all expense paid trip to visit Israel. Someone had left a large bequest so that every year a group of 25 ministers and pastors would be able to experience a trip to the Holy Land. It was a wonderful trip, but I had to spend a large amount of time with some Christian pastors who were much more conservative and rigid in their thinking than me. Mostly I held my tongue, but one day on the tour bus I got into a bit of a debate with one of them over a particular piece of scripture. The Bible verse was this one, “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved.” It's the words of Jesus from the 16th Chapter of the Gospel of Mark. Anyway, this man and I got into a debate. He was a ferocious believer in the literal words of scripture.

He said, “That’s it! That’s it! Unless you believe and are baptized you can’t get into Heaven!” End of story! He said to me, “Do you believe in the Bible?”

“Yes,” I said, “but what about a child who dies in the first few days of life – no chance to believe and be baptized?”

“Does it say except?”

“But what about people who don’t have all their mental faculties?”

“Does it say except?”

“But what about primitive tribes that have never had the Christian faith preached to them?”

“Does it say except?”

We went back and forth for a while, and then I just gave up. He concluded the debate, “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved. Otherwise, expelled from Heaven! It’s the Word of God!” For the rest of the trip, I was the person on the bus who didn’t believe the Bible! He came off looking like a stone cold statue of truth, holding up the Word of God, and I looked like a heathen – a heretic! I guess my opponent figured: You start bending the rules, you need to consider the implications, because once you go down that road, pretty soon there will be absolutely no law and order! It’s the thin edge of the wedge! A slippery slope! Now this brings us to our reading for today from the Gospel of Matthew.

During the first century, the time of Jesus, the Jewish synagogue exercised the right of expelling people – but not over any little old thing. They weren’t picky and miniscule about their thinking, because they had a lot of other ways to punish those who didn’t live up to expectations. But sometimes they actually expelled a person. It could get that serious, and they had the right.

As the Jewish religious leaders might have said, “How else can you preserve the integrity and purpose and character of this institution, if we don’t have the right of expulsion!”

So, one day, Jesus is walking along through this little town, and there’s a booth at the city gate where the tax collector sits. The taxes are terrible. There are bridge taxes and road taxes, vegetable taxes, wagon taxes, house taxes, poll taxes. Just the fact he collects taxes is horrible, but beyond that, he collects them for the Roman government! A foreign government! Here’s a Jewish man collecting taxes from his own countrymen, on behalf of a foreign army of occupation – the Romans! He is out of the synagogue - expelled!

But Jesus speaks to him – his name is Matthew, and Jesus says to Matthew “Follow me. Follow me …”

And he leaves the tax booth and follows Jesus. And he gives a big dinner for Jesus. And Matthew invites his immediate friends and his business associates to dinner and they have a big party. Well, you know how the houses were in that time and place, they could be rather open, and some Pharisees came along, those who were responsible for the synagogue.

They come along and they ask the disciples of Jesus, “Why does your teacher eat with people who are expelled from the synagogue?” Because everybody at this dinner table has been expelled – kicked out of the synagogue! Everybody with Jesus has been expelled.

The question is a good question. I think everybody here knows it’s a good question. “Why does your teacher eat with people who’ve been expelled from the central religious institution in town?”

The disciples don’t answer. I don’t think they have an answer. What could be the answer? Were they going to say, “Well, this made a good photo opportunity. It looks good for Jesus to be seen with all kinds of different people.” I don’t think so.

Was it a case that if you’re going to start a movement you have to start with the outsiders and the rejects and then gradually you get other people on board? No that’s not it.

“Well, better this group than that stuffy old religious group of people. You know how they are!” No. That’s a cartoon. Nobody believes that.

Maybe, it’s because these are really nice people. You know these people who’ve been expelled are a lot of fun! In fact, if you get to know them, they’re fine people. Is that the answer? No. They have no answer.

Jesus overhears them, and he says, “I’ll answer the question.”

And Jesus answers it with two statements, and I want you to think of these and put them in your mind, because someone someday is going to ask you, “Why are there people in your church who have doubts and questions about their faith, who only come out at Christmas and Easter? Why do you have people with problems, people with bad habits, anxiety disorders or depression, people who drink too much, eat too much, worry too much? The list goes on and on. Shouldn’t they be expelled? And I want you to have an answer.

This is what Jesus says, “It’s the people with troubles who need a doctor, not the people who are well.” And when he says that I think he’s talking about all of us!

And for his second answer, Jesus quotes the Old Testament - Hosea 6:6, God said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

The striking thing about that quotation is this. It was the favourite verse of the Pharisees because of the destruction of the Temple with the altar and the robes and the candles and the incense and all of that. When the temple was gone and there grew up in its place the lowly, informal synagogue, the leaders of the synagogue said, “Well, God is not interested in all that stuff anyway. God is interested in what’s in the heart. We don’t need candles and tables and altars and towers and spires and robes and drapery. We don’t need that. It’s really what’s in your heart – right?! We don’t need all the trappings of religion. It’s what’s in your heart!” They had made a living off of that.

Now Jesus says – right back to those Pharisees, “Okay. God doesn’t need all that – all your rules, regulations and exclusions - God is interested in what’s in your heart.

Now, I’m asking you, what’s in your heart? It’s one thing to go around making a big motto of how we’re different from everybody else, but why don’t we build a church out of saying, “And in our heart, is a love for the expelled, a love for those rejected and outcast by others. That’s the way to answer the question.

One day, someone might even ask, “Why is it that this church – St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church – welcomes people, and is friendly to people, and has people attending who I think should be expelled? Bad people, people who don’t fit the mold of “good Christian people?”

You remember my Grade 5 friend Kevin? I talked about him at the beginning of the sermon. I was only ten years old - he was exciting to have as a friend - but I kind of wondered about Kevin until I walked into his house. Before we judge people too harshly, think about Kevin. Can we understand how people get to be the way they are?

When people walk into this church, we don’t know what house or what place anybody’s coming from. We don't know what hurt they're carrying. We don't know what battle they've been fighting. Can we – the church of Jesus Christ - be a place of healing, not judgement?

“Why does Jesus eat with sinners?” That’s what the Pharisees demanded to know.

Now, you don’t just have an answer. You want to be the answer! Can we honestly say that’s the way the church functions in the world? In the name of the one who wants us to remember him this way; Jesus of Nazareth, friend of sinners.

Can we honestly say, “Me too…”