4 July 2014 - freedom in dependence

 4 July 2014 - freedom in dependence

“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Go and learn the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

We're all sick.  We're all sinners in need of mercy.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (cf. Rom. 3:23).  We are all saved by grace as a gift, leaving nothing about which we can boast (cf. Eph. 2:8).  The more we realize our need, what we're like on our own, apart from Christ, the more quickly we respond we he says, "Follow me."

Many of us can relate to the condemnation Matthew experiences on all sides.  The Pharisees ask the disciples why Jesus eats with sinners and tax collectors.  They make Matthew out to be a blemish on the reputation of Jesus.  Matthew's whole life before the invitation of Christ is marked by this isolation and rejection.  Being a tax collector is known to reward the selfish.  Tax collectors profit over and above the taxes they collect.  This is more or less expected, but there is little to stop them from taking more and more and more.  It is probably that at one time Matthew indulges such selfishness in himself.  Since he becomes a tax collector at all we may assume that his heart is at one time marked by greed like those in the first reading.

“When will the new moon be over,” you ask,
“that we may sell our grain,
and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat?”
We will diminish the containers for measuring,
add to the weights,
and fix our scales for cheating!

But it seems that he is now hungry for the word of God.  He is experiencing the hunger and thirst that comes from a lack of the word.  His life apart from Christ is famine of hearing the word of the LORD.  He is tired of being lonely.  He is tired of thinking that he deserves the loneliness he feels.  But though he might "wander from sea to sea and rove from north to the east" he is unable to find a way out on his own.  He is stuck on his own.  But Jesus does not leave him on his own.

As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”

We talk about coming to Jesus but Matthew doesn't come to Jesus.  Jesus comes to Matthew.  And with the simple words, "Follow me", he invites Matthew to make a break with all his past life.  He is invited to step out of a life of being dead in sin (cf. Eph. 2:5).  He is invited to come out from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light (cf. Col. 1:12-13).  The way of escape is open, and Matthew refuses to miss the opportunity.  The invitation, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (cf. Mat. 3:2) does not feel like condemnation to Matthew.  To him, the way to freedom is now open.  In place of the famine of the word of God, Matthew is now able to follow the one who is that word incarnate.

 One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Matthew begins to realize that those who seek Jesus "with all their heart" are the blessed who are empowered to "observe his decrees", who do not stray from his commands.  In following Jesus, Matthew even begins to long for God's ordinances.  He longs for his precepts but can now ask "in your justice give me life."  What he couldn't do on his own he is now empowered to do by following Jesus.  Following Jesus both increases the "yearning" for righteousness, and at the same time increases his the Spirit power inside him to truly walk in his ways. 

We all need the divine physician to change our hearts from stony hearts to hearts of flesh.  He does this by his Spirit in us (cf. Eze. 36:26).  We all have areas of our lives where we still live according to the flesh, according to the old man, slaves to the powers of the age.  We are all still tax collectors in one way or another.  Jesus invites us, "Follow me".  Let us respond to his invitation, knowing that when we try to follow he gives us the power to do so, to "walk by the Spirit". (cf. Gal. 5:16)