Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text on which this morning's message is based comes from our Gospel lesson (Matthew 9: 9-13, Jesus' call of Matthew) read earlier.

One evening at a mission station in Belgian Congo, a converted man prayed "Lord Jesus thou art the needle, and I am the cotton." To the missionary this seemed strange, even unbiblical so he asked the man what he meant by his unusual words. It turned out that the man had visited the mission school that day and watched the girls sewing. What interested him most was that the thread always followed the needle. In the same way, he wanted to follow Jesus wherever he led.

Jesus told Matthew to "follow me". Actually a better translation of what Jesus said is: "be following me" or "begin and continue to follow me." In the same way Matthew writes these words about his own calling to remind all of us who are called to continue following Jesus and his mercy forever. When Jesus tells us to "keep following me" he wants to have us so close to him at all times, so completely yielded to him, that we follow him as directly and dependently as the thread follows the needle. (from David Burgess, Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations, CPH, 1988).

Now many people assume that Matthew must have been a pretty nice guy or Jesus wouldn't have called him to be a disciple. But Matthew was a publican, a tax collector, a hated sinner. Now I know we joke about IRS agents in this country, but tax collectors at Jesus' time were grossly dishonest, routinely gouging the people with more extra taxes beyond the Roman requirements just so they the tax collectors could line their own pockets. Matthew, whose Jewish name was Levi, was from the priestly tribe of Israel and may have actually been studying for the priesthood at one time. But his life had turned away and he had become one of the hated tax collectors and "sinners" of their society.

But Matthew doesn't hesitate at Jesus' call. He gets up and follows Jesus. He apparently knows he is a sinner in need of the Messiah, a spiritually sick man in need of the ultimate doctor.

Jesus is the sinner's physician. He came to be not only the doctor, but the cure for sin. His "holy and precious blood and with his innocent sufferings and death" (Small Catechism) on the cross for us is the cure for our sinful life. His resurrection is the proof that this cure really works and will someday raise us up to be fully cured with him. This cure comes to us in the most unlikely of ways, through Word and water and bread and wine.

Jesus came only for sinners. Those who do not think they are sinners miss out. It has been said that Jesus came to save the whole world – and that is true (Blonski, Concordia Pulpit Resource, 2002). But Jesus here says that he has come to call the sinners, not the righteous of the world. Jesus came only for sinners. Those who don't think of themselves as sinners are actually rejecting Jesus and his loving call to follow him. But we who are called know our need, our daily need for his forgiving cure, as we confess our sins to him and follow his love and mercy.

We are then given the great privilege to "hallow God's name", to follow Jesus like Matthew and to tell others of this great privilege of following the Son of God. We "hallow God's name when we teach and live holy lives according to the Words of Matthew and Mark and Luke and Paul and all the others who were called by God to share this great privilege with us. There, and only there in God's Word do we learn of Christ's great love for us.

We can learn about following and mercy by reading about it in the Bible. We can also learn to follow Jesus by taking the opportunity of the good works he has prepare in advance for us. Because of God's grace, (Ephesians 2: 10) "we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Such was the case with Sister Helen Prejean. Her story is told in the book and movie "Dead Man Walking". Sister Helen hears one day of a correspondence program with prisoners on death row. She decides to participate and begins writing, even though she's been told not to expect to hear anything in return. Much to her surprise, though, one of the prisoners does respond and catches her completely off guard by asking her to be his spiritual guide. Apparently his execution date was fast approaching, and he wanted some representative of God to be there for support over the next several weeks. Sister Helen hesitates. It is one thing to do charity long distance. It is quite another thing to do mercy face to face with a convicted murderer. Gary had been sentenced to death by lethal injection for participating in the brutal rape of a young woman and the subsequent murder of both her and her finance. Sister Helen recoils at the very thought of meeting this rapist and murderer, let alone ministering to him. But she feels called to follow Jesus and minister his mercy to this man. So she does. The first several meetings are difficult. Gary comes across a whole lot more cocky and arrogant in person than he did in his letters. He is a neo-Nazi who refuses to admit his guilt and insists that he is the innocent victim of a corrupt legal system. To make matters worse, Sister Helen is despised and publicly vilified by the victims' parents for even spending time with Gary. How could she, a deeply religious nun, befriend this cold-blooded, unrepentant murderer! They are horrified and let her know that every time they see her. And yet, despite these difficulties, Sister Helen risks her name, her reputation, her own safety, to reach out and embrace Gary with the love of God. And the more she perseveres in loving him, the more his defenses begin to crumble.

Finally on the night before his execution, Gary confesses to his crime and asks for God's forgiveness. In a flood of tears, he thanks Sister Helen for all her love and support. He then tries to send her home, insisting that her work with him is done and that he is now ready to meet his Maker. "No, that's okay," she responds. "I'll stay through the execution." "But why?" Gary wants to know. "I'm only getting what I deserve." "Because," she replies, "the last face I want you to see before you die is not one of hatred and vengeance, but one of love and mercy." At midnight, Gary is strapped into place while Sister Helen and the victims' parents watch through the window of an adjacent room. He apologizes to the victims' parents and asks their forgiveness. Within a matter of minutes, the last lethal dose is injected and Gary is pronounced dead. Sister Helen stands there with arms reaching out to Gary and a look of pure mercy on her face. We first learn to follow Jesus' mercy by reading about Him in our Bibles. But, like Sister Helen, we learn to follow his mercy by just doing it to those who least deserve it, to those who are unclean, who are despised and rejected by society. (modified from Rev. J. Scott Miller, "Learning Mercy . . . Doing Mercy").

I always hesitate telling powerful stories of last second conversions like Gary because it is so easy for our sinful human hearts to use them as excuses to not follow Jesus here and now, when he calls us. Following him can feel like a burden when we forget what He has done for us. I fear that too many people hear stories like Gary's and think "Oh, I don't have to follow Jesus during this life. I only need to turn to him in repentance at the hour of my death." But St. Paul says in Galatians 6 (7-8) "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." All of us are sinners, like Gary even if our sins do not appear as heinous as his. But we are in need of salvation in the same way it came to Gary, through the Blood of the Lamb our Lord Jesus Christ.

But those of us who have been given the great gift of this knowledge of Jesus are at the same time sinner and saint. We who have been called by his name to follow him are much more in the position of Sister Helen, his children following and being merciful, sharing the message of God's mercy shown to us through Jesus death and resurrection on the cross. We are the thread, following the straight and strong needle as he leads us through our lives with his mercy and grace. You may never be called to follow Jesus into a prison and spend the last hours with a death row prisoner. Sister Helen's more typical mode of following was like ours, loving her fellow congregation members, teaching children about Jesus, loving her family. But in whatever way he might do it, whatever good works he has prepared in advance for you, Jesus is calling you, calling me, calling each of us sinners to follow him. Amen.