Sermon Delivered June 7, 2026
Exodus 34:6 Common English Bible
6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:
“The Lord! The Lord! a God who is compassionate and merciful,
very patient, full of loyal love and faithfulness.
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 New International Version
The Calling of Matthew
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
18 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.
Our Old Testament scripture today focused in on the nature of God. God is compassionate and merciful. Patient or slow to anger. God is full of Loyal Love and Faithfulness.
I am going to do a sermon series based on this scripture and at the end of the message I have a bible project film. Today’s theme is the first characteristic of God: Compassionate.
In Matthew, Jesus is showing us what a compassionate heart really looks like. Chapters 8 & 9 are directly after the Sermon on the Mount (which is a sermon that calls for healthy relationships and compassion and mercy toward others). So directly after this sermon, Jesus goes on a mission to perform signs and to heal many people. In chapter 8 he heals a man with a skin disease. He heals the Roman centurion’s beloved servants, he heals the paralytic and it says that he heals many other people who are sick. Then here in Chapter 9 he heals even more people. These healings are the first acts of this kind in Matthew, and importantly they cross all kinds of established social boundaries.
In our passage Jesus calls Matthew, who as a tax collector was a pariah among Jews. He was someone who was working for Rome, and extracting tax from God’s people who were subject to Rome’s authoritarian rule. Politically, Matthew was a collaborator and a traitor. So socially, he’s out.
Jesus invites him to follow, and in turn Matthew invites everyone to dine at his house. And at this dinner are a number of other people who lived on the margins, people who the Pharisees considered sinners. social and moral outcasts. They may have been like Matthew, people who could not escape from their lives, because everyone needs to earn a living. Or maybe they were people whose lives had gone off the rails in some way. Regardless, Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 and says, that ‘God desires mercy, not sacrifice.’ This passage in Hosea is interesting because it is a warning to Israel.
My Common English version of the text reads like this: “I desire faithful love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God instead of entirely burned offerings.” Hosea is talking about offerings and worship and religious practices that evaporate into the ether and that those things are not what God wants first… what God desires first from His people is love and mercy, and knowledge of God or in other words a Relationship with God.
Burned offerings and religious habits… those are easy. Love and Mercy are sometimes the harder thing to do. Jesus is surrounded by all of these people who the Pharisees label as sinners and he says that Love and Mercy and Relationship is what this is all about.
Furthermore, the disciples he has called, the Fishermen to whom he said “Follow me” before he said “Follow me” to Matthew would have to reckon with a tax collector in their community and sinners in the mix. But Jesus includes the excluded. By doing so Jesus shows that he has a compassionate heart for those who are living on the margins.
Then Jesus is called to heal the daughter of a Jewish leader, and without delay he sets about helping. A child dying in those days was very common. Half of all children did not make it to the age of five. But this leader asks Jesus to lay his hand on the girl. Now we have talked about the law before and the things that make someone unclean and the resulting rituals and time and inconvenience to become clean again. Well touching the dead will make you unclean.
But we already know that Jesus has a compassionate heart and that mercy is more important to him than legality or burned offerings. And so, he goes and heals the child, and on the way a woman who is also chronically ceremonially unclean because she is bleeding reaches out to touch his garment. And she is healed.
This would have been a shocking thing to do at that time. But instead of getting angry, Jesus who has a compassionate heart says, “Take heart, DAUGHTER, your faith has made you well.”
That is profound. This woman had been bleeding for 12 years, and so for 12 years she has lived on the margins of society as an unclean person. And he expresses the most beautiful form of acceptance by calling her daughter. What an amazing act of Mercy!
Jesus is showing the consistent posture of God towards his people. He demonstrates Compassion and Mercy. And he shows who his people are, and it’s a more expansive group than the religious institutions of the day condoned.
What is the response of God’s people? Well, we know the pharisees have their back up about Jesus mixing with unsavory people and most likely about him healing unclean people. But those around him, however bewildered they may have been by people of every social class coming to Jesus for help, they could not deny what was happening and their faith grew. Jesus gave credit to the bleeding woman that her faith had healed her. And it was because of the faith of that poor dad who was so sure that all Jesus needed to do was to touch his daughter…. It was because of that faith that Jesus went to heal his little girl.
And after our scriptures today, the healing continues …
Matthew 9:35-36
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
The people brought their needs to the feet of Jesus and had faith that he would help them. The disciples, like Matthew, abandoned their lives, and had faith that Jesus was the Way. The consistent theme for God’s people is faith and surrender.
So, what does this all mean for us in 2026? Let’s start with a football analogy.
Do we have any Seahawks fans in this church? How do you feel when you look at this picture? Do you feel some pride. It’s nice to see talented people who work hard, and it pays off. They bring a little glory to the Pacific Northwest. We don’t always get glory.
But I don’t want to talk about the Seahawks. I want to talk about the underdogs. How many times have you heard it said that people like to root for the underdog? I don’t think it’s altogether true because we all tend to follow the Top Dog.
I remember when the Seahawks won the Superbowl the first time, when I had a little shop in Tenino and we sold Seahawks metal art. I had orders pouring in. Someone wanted a Beast Mode art piece; you know Marshawn Lynch. And the person who wanted it was from Florida. I’m like, why does a Floridian want something from a Seattle team? Why? Because at that time, the hawks were Top Dogs.
It might be fun if all of a sudden, the Cleavland Browns or the Tennessee Titans rose up and dominated in the next season or started horribly and then all of a sudden took off, that might be exciting to root for, right? But it’s doubtful that is going to happen. In general, we have serious doubts that the underdog will prevail, and we probably won’t even pay attention to how they are doing unless something changes to get our attention. Instead, we are going to root for our beloved Seahawks, if you know what is good for you. And it doesn’t hurt that they are Super Bowl champions.
My daughter plays in the drumline for the Cougar Marching Band, and she will tell you that it is a lot more fun to play pep when the team wins. So, let’s go Cougs!
But I digress.
The paradox is that people favor underdogs, but they follow only top dogs. This is true for most things in life. Because it is easier to follow what is going well with the top dogs than it is to fight for the underdog. We are attracted to fame and money and power and success. Because those people seem to have things figured out, and so that road seems safe and more pleasing.
Now I don’t know how Jesus feels about football, but I know that in his earthly life he definitely cared deeply for people who were in need, who were hurting, and who were the underdogs of society.
Our passage says that the Pharisees asked, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
Jesus would be where he was needed. And therefore, as a church that is where we should be also. Rooting for the underdogs of our community. Lending a hand for those who need physical, spiritual and emotional healing. Feeding the hungry and clothing the naked.
We have a tenant upstairs in our church and I think about her a lot. She is so passionate about helping people who have been in prison. She works tirelessly to help them get their lives back on track in a faith-based way. And the reason that she is so passionate about this is because she was once a prisoner herself. She was sponsored by a church who helped her get her feet back under her. And so, she knows what it is like to be an underdog firsthand.
Maybe in general we can’t relate to life in prison. And so, it’s harder for us to understand and be helpful and compassionate. But I think that’s why it is so important to learn people’s stories, find out how their lives went off the rails, what it was like behind bars, and what it’s like to try to get your life back. Those are the people I want to root for.
I want to root for the people who use our local food bank. Roan volunteers there, it might be good for some of us to volunteer there also.
And at the Wardrobe, sometimes we get to hear people’s stories, like the mother of a newborn who came in, and everyone thought she was having a girl, but surprise, it’s a boy! And so, she donated the girl clothes and exchanged them for some baby boy things. And we got to see a tiny newborn baby!
The easy thing is to want to surround ourselves with people who are doing well and who are happy. But when we call on our brothers and sisters who are unwell, or who are shut-in and need some cheer, we are 100% joyfully doing the church family thing.
The reasons for the needs can vary widely, but we must acknowledge that Jesus strove to be there for those who needed him. This is where we are going to connect with the compassionate heart of Jesus. This is the front porch of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes the needy will be a motley crew. And sometimes it’s a momma who drives a nice car and drinks lattes that needs us. Sometimes it’s going to be the ex-convict who doesn’t have sheets for his bed yet. Or the woman who needs interview clothes because she’s trying to get a job.
And when we think of those people who stood outside the margins of society and sat around the table with Jesus, breaking bread… WHO would they be today? Who would the religious Pharisees of today call out as the Sinners and Tax Collectors? In 2026, what societal cruelty would move Jesus to compassion? Would it be separating families? Or incarcerating people in detention centers? Would it be the rising violence against trans people? Would it be the impoverished nursing mother who is dependent on food aid? Would it be the refugees who are victims of wars that they didn’t start? Would it be the drug addicted homeless person? Or the recovering alcoholic? Who do you think of?
These are the underdogs, my friends. It may not be popular to root for them. Like, Matthew the tax collector, it may be easier to place blame on them for their problems, but that is not what we are called to do. These are very real people, beloved by God, and in need of compassion. In need of a seat at the table.
When Jesus turns to the religious establishment of TODAY I wonder if he would still say, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” “Go and learn what it means.”
This sermon is part of 5 part series inspired by the Bible Project films “How God Begins to Describe Himself in the Bible”