Sermon – Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Sermon Preached by Rev’d Tracey Gracey on Sunday, 7 June 2026
Today’s Gospel contains four very different people.
A tax collector sitting in his booth.
A religious leader carrying the grief of a dying daughter.
A woman living with illness and isolation.
And Jesus on the move.
At first glance they seem like separate stories.
But Matthew has deliberately placed these encounters together around one important teaching from Jesus:
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
And it is through these encounters that we begin to see what mercy looks like in practice.
In our first encounter, we meet Matthew sitting in his tax booth.
Everyone knew who Matthew was.
A tax collector.
A collaborator.
A sinner.
An outsider.
People had already decided what sort of person Matthew was.
But Jesus sees him differently.
Jesus sees more than a tax collector.
He sees a disciple.
And that is why he can say:
“Follow me.”
For mercy begins by seeing beyond the labels people carry.
Matthew is not the only person in this story carrying a label.
We soon meet a woman who for twelve years has been known not by her name or her story but by her condition.
For twelve years she has lived with the burden of exclusion.
For twelve years she has carried not only physical suffering but social and spiritual isolation.
She is the one who is driven to reach out and touch Jesus’ cloak.
Jesus could have easily kept walking, ignored her touch and continued on his way to help the little girl.
Instead, he stops.
And rather than pushing her away or treating her as unclean
Jesus calls her “Daughter.”
Before addressing her condition, Jesus restores her identity.
Before he speaks about healing, he speaks about belonging.
Before her circumstances change, she is seen.
She is given dignity, belonging and value.
For Jesus reminds her that she is far more than the label others have given her.
The young girl in this story also remains unnamed.
She is simply known through her father.
Yet once again Jesus responds with intimacy and care.
In both encounters Jesus personally engages with those whom others avoid.
In both encounters touch becomes a sign of restoration.
In both encounters, these women, who have been cut off from life, are welcomed back into the community.
And that is what mercy looks like.
In these encounters, Jesus is giving the Pharisees a gentle nudge and inviting them to look deeper.
Because it can sometimes be easier to follow rules than to truly welcome people.
It can be easier to keep things the way they are than to make room for others.
It can be easier to talk about love than to walk alongside someone in their pain.
But when we see how Jesus stops at a tax booth,
How he sits at a table with sinners,
How he speaks to an excluded woman,
How he takes a little girl by the hand,
We begin to see what mercy looks like in practice.
And in all of these encounters we begin to see something of what God is like.
A God who notices people.
A God who makes room for people.
A God who draws people back into life.
As I reflected on these encounters, I was drawn to the opening words of the confession we say most weeks:
“Merciful God, our maker and our judge.”
For we all carry labels and burdens:
Mistakes.
Regrets.
Failures.
Grief.
Shame.
And yet God responds to us in the same way Jesus responds to people in these encounters.
God sees us.
God knows us intimately.
And God still responds with mercy.
Always inviting us back into relationship and belonging.
If we know we are accepted and loved by a God who sees beyond our labels, then we too are invited, just as the pharisees were, to show mercy by noticing those who are overlooked.
Restoring dignity where it has been lost.
Creating belonging where there is isolation.
and helping people know they matter.
For that is what happens in every encounter in today’s Gospel.
A tax collector becomes a disciple.
An outsider becomes a daughter.
A girl is restored to life.
And through each encounter we are shown what mercy looks like.
Amen.