Standing back or reaching out?
James Cathcart
June 13, 2026
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Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 (NIV-UK)
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 those who are ill. 13 But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’
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 the 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.
The Pharisees stand back in judgement of Jesus, whereas the tax-collectors, sinners, the father, and the bleeding woman all reach out. Everyone that holds back remains unchanged. Everyone who reaches out has their life changed forever.
No tax collector, sinner, parent or bleeding person reached out knowing what Jesus would do. But nonetheless they stopped by, leant forward, called out, extended their fingertips…
I remember hearing once about a tiny life-form in the sea that has two ways of moving: forwards and random. That’s it. No left or right, backward, or up/down.
Each step is a binary choice: If there is food here I’ll go forward; if there isn’t I’ll go random. That’s it. All of the complexity of life boiled down to a simple equation, “Do they do food here?”
In the stripped back logic of this critter ‘random’ is the only other option than forward. It’s keeping munching or throw the dice. There’s no space for more advanced calculations.
Meanwhile our colossal brains are packing some serious hardware. We have so many options open to us. But this of course leads to analysis paralysis — where now? Our lives are so rich that we have more than lunch to think about (even if a significant CPU usage is indeed devoted to lunch).
The little organism doesn’t get stuck, it does not know what a rut is, it’s always on the hustle. But we get stuck, mouths open, glakit, not in spite of our brains but because of our intelligence.
Sometimes we don’t lean forward, stop by, call out, or extend our fingertips because life isn’t usually a simple binary between life and death, sustenance and famine, fulfilment and despair.
But sometimes, it is.
Sometimes it’s clear that one way leads to life and another to sorrow.
And sometimes in our heart of hearts we have in fact already made a decision and the only issue is between action and inaction, and not direction of travel. But the more we delay the more we can convince ourselves its indecision.
So next time you see a glimmer of the light, consider asking ‘Do they do food here?’ and reaching out your fingertips…
Prayer:
Lord in heaven
we’re stopping by
we’re leaning in,
we’re calling out,
we’re extending our fingertips…
to You.
Amen.
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