Proverbs 3.13-18; 2 Corinthians 4.1-6; Matthew
9.9-13
O Almighty God, whose blessed Son called Matthew the tax
collector to be an apostle and evangelist: give us grace to forsake
the selfish pursuit of gain and the possessive love of riches that
we may follow in the way of your Son Jesus Christ, who is alive and
reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen.
In chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew's Gospel, there are 13 instances
when people "came", "followed", "approached", or were "brought" or
"carried" to Jesus. Time after time, the initiative lay with them.
Only twice did Jesus take the lead - in healing Peter's
mother-in-law, and in calling Matthew. You have to wonder why. Did
Jesus need Matthew, or see hidden potential in him, or know that
Matthew was afraid of rejection and needed a challenging
invitation?
Jesus was walking from his home town of Capernaum, which was
near the frontier between territories controlled by Herod Agrippa
and by Philip. Tax-collectors sat on the border, collecting duty on
goods in transit (plus their own substantial rake-off, which helped
to make them so hated), and possibly Jesus had seen Matthew many
times.
The story makes it almost casual: Jesus was walking along, saw
him, and said: "Follow me." As with Simon, Andrew, James, and John
(Matthew 4.18-22), the response was instantaneous and
life-changing.
In Mark and Luke, the tax-collector is called Levi; here, he is
Matthew, derived from "gift of God". Perhaps whoever wrote the
Gospel - scholars are divided on whether it is the same Matthew -
used this name to be subtly self-referental to God's mercy in his
life.
Very soon, life was further upended, as this disciple became an
apostle, although he never quite shook off his former identity as a
tax-collector (Matthew 10.1-4). Tradition tells us that, after
Jesus's resurrection, he remained in Palestine, before heading to
Ethiopia, Persia, or Parthia (now north-eastern Iran), once
persecution started under Herod Agrippa. He may have been
martyred.
But that is jumping ahead. What happened next? Simply a meal,
which is quite typical of Jesus. The guest list comprised Matthew's
companions, which provoked a predicable response from the
Pharisees. Jesus's retort was more stinging than in Mark and Luke
because he added to his comments about being sent to call sinners:
"Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy and not
sacrifice.'"
This alludes to Proverbs (21.3): "To do righteousness and
justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice," and Hosea
(6.6): "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of
God rather than burnt offerings."
Jesus sent the Pharisees to "go and learn". Although teachers of
the law, they needed to become disciples, to learn not about the
niceties of the sacrificial system, but about the practice of
mercy. Before long (Matthew 12.7), Jesus was again challenging them
for failing to do this - this time, for criticising his disciples:
"If you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not
sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless."
In that light, it is salutary to hear Paul, himself a Pharisee,
referring to God's mercy as the catalyst for the ministry to which
he was called. It took dramatic events to convert him, and he
invoked the creation story and God's life-giving words "Let light
shine out of darkness" to describe what happened to him, as also
happened to Matthew, when God's light shone in his heart. In each
case, there was a new creation. It could happen to a Pharisee, just
as it could to a tax-collector.
Why did Jesus have to challenge Matthew to follow him? What
stopped Matthew's coming to Jesus of his own accord, like the other
people in the stories surrounding his encounter with Jesus? What
stops us from following Jesus? If we ask ourselves what or who is
the hardest thing that God could ask us to give up, we might find
the answer.
The collect points us to the dangers of "the selfish pursuit of
gain and the possessive love of riches"; and Matthew learned the
truth in Proverbs that wisdom's income is better than silver, gold,
or jewels; that in wisdom is a tree of life.
For some people, this is where the rubber hits the road. For
others, it might be something else entirely, but "selfish pursuit"
and "possessive love" are probably at the heart of what holds most
of us back. So, expecting God to put a finger on where the problem
might lie for us, we pray for grace, like Matthew, to follow the
way of Jesus Christ.