This Sunday's lectionary is Matthew 9:9-13. In it, Jesus calls Matthew to his service. Matthew, a tax collector, is sitting at his table when he is approached by Our Lord. With a few simple words, "Follow me", Matthew left his table and took up a whole new life as a follower of Christ.
As we are sitting in our offices, our homes, with our friends, who of us would uproot everything we have, leave all the we had behind, to listen to the words "Follow me"? Think about it for a moment. Matthew was leaving behind a lucerative business. Tax collectors, although they were despised (after all, don't many Americans despise the IRS and many of its employees?), were private businessmen who had entered into a contract with the Roman and Jewish authorities of the period to collect tax. Essentially, the tax collector collected tax and from the amount collected, had to pay the appropriate authorities the tax. Yes... the methods employed were sometimes brutal and insensitive. However, Matthew's alleged sins are nowhere recounted. In fact, many believe he was labeled a sinner merely because he conducted a lawful occupation under contract to the Roman administration.
Matthew put all of this aside to follow Jesus. He followed Christ throughout his ministry, and indeed, one of the Gospels is attributed to Matthew. The example we can learn from this is that as Christ calls us to follow him, we each must listen for the call and heed that call. It is through this following of Christ, and the belief in His sacrifice for us, that truly, we will enjoy eternal life.
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1 comment:
Matthew is easily my favorite book, especially Matthew 25.
To me, he humanizes the message, he let's us see it from the perspective of a very down-to-earth man - related in a very compassionate way.
If there were one word to typify Matthew vs. the others, it would, to me, be compassion
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