St. Matthew chapter nine features one of the significant things that Jesus did in his earthly ministry which was to choose his disciples. In this case the calling of Matthew otherwise known by his Hebrew name Levi is described. Jesus’ choosing of Matthew is significant not only because of who Matthew was but more so because of what it said about the ministry that Jesus came to engage in and ultimately what it reveals about God’s will for all human beings. We have to consider this to be an authentic event especially since all three synoptic gospels give us versions of this event. Jesus’ choosing of Matthew was however potentially problematic because of who Matthew was. At the heart of the story though is Jesus’ desire to reach people who the society would regard as undesirable with the good news of salvation. Matthew was one such undesirable person. Let us look in more detail at what is happening here.
First of all, Matthew is a tax collector. If you are aware of the story of Zacchaeus, you will recall that tax collectors were despised intensely by the people primarily because they were collecting taxes on behalf of the Roman masters but also because they were mostly very dishonest and exploited their own people to acquire enormous wealth for themselves. There is hardly a reference in the gospels to tax collectors that have ever started out with them being seen in a good way by the people around them. They are among the worst of the worst as far as their ethics were concerned and they were treated with equal disdain by the populace. Yet this is the type of person that Jesus chooses to associate with and in fact call into a close relationship with. As you hear this, think of the kinds of people you would consider to be totally ethically reprobate. Any person you think of, you can be sure that Matthew would qualify to be in that group. More importantly, Jesus desires to reach out in love to those persons as he reaches out to all of us.
The next thing to consider is Jesus’ calling of Matthew and his response. What stands out is the seeming suddenness of the call and equally the quickness of Matthew’s obedience to the call. We must not be put off by this because it is widely accepted that this was not as sudden as it seemed. Matthew would have known Jesus before and was following his teaching and this moment is simply the time when he decided to follow Jesus. It is very likely that Jesus had already asked him prior to now to consider being one of his disciples. It is also to be accepted by us that he didn’t just get up and leave the booth unattended but he would have had at least a coworker who continued the work of collecting taxes. What the gospel writer who most traditions believe to be the same Matthew wants to show in this event is the priority he placed on following Jesus over everything else. The real heart of the event happens at Matthew’s house where the tax collector holds a big feast for Jesus at which other tax collectors and sinners are attending. They must have been invited and it is likely that this did not happen on the same day that Matthew left the tax collecting business. What we do know is the indignation expressed by the Pharisees who asked Jesus’ disciples why their teacher was eating with tax collectors and sinners. Evidently, the Pharisees who were a part of the Jewish ruling class called the Sanhedrin felt that they were completely blameless before God and thus despised those who were seen to be unworthy of God’s mercy and grace. Here in the text, the unworthy people are the tax collectors and sinners. As you hear this, think about the people who in your view are seen as worthy of being despised today?
As I said earlier, this call of Matthew is notable because it tells us the kind of ministry Jesus came to carry out and thereby we learn who are the kinds of persons who are dearest to him.
What then does this event, so wonderfully described by the gospel writer himself who was the recipient of Jesus’ mercy, tell us today? Here are a few things for us to reflect on as we consider this question and what Jesus is saying to us today.
- We are being asked to consider what is our priority in this life?
Matthew, or Levi if you wish to call him that, may have taken some time to consider following Jesus after hearing him and seeing him work among the people. We cannot be sure. What is clear though is that at some point Matthew made up his mind that leaving behind the tax collecting business with all of its profits was the most important decision he could make. It was truly a life-changing decision for Matthew. It is a decision he made having sorted what was most important to him. This was following Jesus even if it meant a future of uncertainty and no physical rewards. If we are honest with ourselves many of us can admit that we have never really prioritised Jesus in our lives even when we are in church and we say that we are Christians. So many other things and other people come first in our lives. How many times have we declined the call to do something that the Lord wants us to do because something else came up which we considered to be more important as far as our worldview and our take on life is? Think about that and reflect on what that reveals about your relationship with God.
- Sincere Christians must not judge and treat people based on the world’s standards.
We notice clearly in the text the condescending or even scornful attitude of the Pharisees. Again it must be remembered that the Pharisees and other members of the Jewish ruling council known as the Sanhedrin always thought themselves to be totally righteous because they kept the Mosaic laws strictly. In truth, many of them kept the laws strictly but they had no compassion for others. You may recall the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in St. Luke 18:9-14. That parable mirrors what is happening in this text. The Pharisees were upset and even disgusted that Jesus, a reputable teacher, could stoop so low as to eat with undesirables. I bet they never thought highly of Jesus afterwards. We too are being asked to examine the extent to which we consider ourselves to be “secure” in our relationship with God because we are in Church. This story is a wake-up call for religious people more than anyone else and especially for us Christians because we often think and act in ways towards people outside of the church that suggests that they are not as worthy of God’s grace as we are. We often act, even unconsciously, in ways towards people who are non-Christians that show our sense of superiority and thus their inferiority to us simply because we are Christians and they are not.
As a result, we cannot effectively witness to non-Christians about God.
We must stop and ask ourselves who are the people in the world that we easily regard as undeserving of God’s mercy whether because of their lifestyles, their occupations, their sexual orientations, their beliefs and practices religious or otherwise and so on. We may find that on reflection on our relationship with God that we who think we are secure because we are Christians, might just be the ones who need more saving than those who we think are on the outside of God’s grace and mercy.
- The Gospel is God’s medicine for those who are truly in need of healing.
The third point for us to reflect on in this text is in my opinion the most important. Jesus’ entire work on earth was rooted in the desire to bring all people into a healthy relationship with God. Outside of this relationship we are sick, we are in need of healing. Sometimes the healing needed was of the physical body and at other times it was the spiritual and at other times still it was the mental/psychological part of the person. Sometimes Jesus saw the need to repair the person’s spiritual relationship first before he could tend to the physical ailment. At the beginning of chapter nine with the healing of the paralytic man we saw an example of Jesus healing the man spiritually before the physical need was addressed. All of this point to the fact that Jesus came primarily to heal the spiritual sickness of people. This was his priority even as he went about healing all types of physical and mental ailments. He came for those who knew that they were sick and needed to be healed. The sad irony in this story is that oftentimes the ones who need healing most urgently are those who don’t recognise this or can’t recognise this and see themselves as perfectly well. From their false sense of wholeness and good health they judge others who acknowledge their ill health and are seeking to be healed. The people who recognise their need for God’s healing power in their lives are often the ones who are despised or shunned by society. They are seen as the scum of the earth because their lifestyles or their beliefs or their economic status or their social status place them at the bottom of society’s hierarchy. They are the ones most people who are progressive keep far away from out of fear that any association with these people can tarnish their reputation. Many of us in church are like those Pharisees who do not want our reputations to be tarnished but in the process of protecting our image or reputations from being tarnished our unhealthy state remains in place.
Jesus’ response to these Pharisees is a reminder to all of us to reflect on how we have, by our actions, failed to be the authentic messengers of the good news.
Jesus’ response to these Pharisees is also a reminder that many of us who think we are healthy spiritually are very likely more in need of healing than those whom we have despised or who we think are undeserving of God’s mercy. We must never think that being in church makes us immune from sickness and disease spiritually. Lastly, Jesus’ response to the Pharisees is a reminder that the outsider and the despised in society are just the kind of people who he came for and who are closest to God’s heart because these are the people who trust in him and sincerely seek him for their needs to be addressed. He did not come for those who think that their social standing or their economic status or their religious piety make them better than others who are less fortunate in their estimation.
One reason why I have loved being a part of the United Church of Canada is that it made the conscious and public effort to stand in solidarity and advocate for the marginalized and the most vulnerable and despised among all people irrespective of all their differences Some of our congregations are doing a better job than others in this regard. The challenge for us at Cottam is not to simply pay lip service to the idea of reaching the marginalized and the despised in the world but to truly stand publicly in support of the despised and marginalized and advocate for those whom society at large and even other denominations would rather not associate with.
That is the only true way to bring the gospel to all people or as we say, “to make Christ known”. May we go from here reflecting on God’s word to us today and ask God to heal us where we need healing so that we can be his true vessels for His purpose here on earth. Amen.