As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
It seems likely that Matthew felt stuck in his post and in his position. Because he was a tax collector and regarded as a sinner and a Roman collaborator he didn't have many options for participating in society. Even if he did have a love for God it would have been almost impossible to express it since he would have been rejected by those in religious authority at the time. The more religious someone was the less likely it was that they would give him the time of day. And even those who weren't particularly religious wouldn't want to tarnish their own reputation by showing kindness to a Roman collaborator. The only company he would have been able to keep was with other outcasts, other similarly isolated sinners and tax collectors. Matthew had found financial stability, but at the price of hatred and rejection by a majority of those in society. It was not a position about which one could have only positive feelings. It was impossible to ignore all that he missed out on as a consequence of it. And it was probably hard not to feel as though God himself had rejected him, since those who should have been closest to him did vocally reject him and those like him.
He said to him, ""Follow me.""
And he got up and followed him.
Matthew was familiar with all of the reasons why no rabbi would ever allow him to be one of his followers, let alone be the one to ask him to become one. And yet here, it had happened. Not just any rabbi, but a uniquely popular one, different from all the rest, had in fact invited Matthew to follow him. It wasn't that Matthew begged and was allowed eventually to come. Matthew knew better than to even bother asking. And yet it had happened without him having to ask. And this implied so much. Jesus wasn't simply pointing at random strangers with this command. He seemed to know Matthew and to want him specifically. Which, again, could not be, because of who he had been and what he had done. It could not, but it was. What Matthew experienced in the moment he was called by Jesus was something he never expected to feel, that being absolute freedom from his past and the limitations it had imposed on his present and future. Something that seemed altogether impossible had just happened and going forward he could no longer assume anything about his future except that it would continue to defy expectations. Others might not have responded to the call of Jesus so whole-hardheartedly and so immediately. But Matthew sensed the new world into which he had been invited. He wasn't about to miss out on a once in a lifetime opportunity.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat with Jesus and his disciples.
As Jesus no doubt intended, the calling of Matthew to be a signal to other outcasts, that there was now someone who was close to God and yet willing to be close to them as well. They knew all too well the consequences of isolation and alienation. They knew they had made choices that hadn't served them well. They came to Jesus, not to put him to the test, but to seek the acceptance that Matthew had found, and the peace of heart that was its result. They knew well enough that they were sick. But at some level they sensed that they had found the divine physician.
The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,
""Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?""
Pharisees did not consider the possibility that people could change, or that God would bother with people who needed change. They were invested in the idea of perfection, both that it was necessary, and that they possessed it. But this was an illusion in which they were trapped, which prevented them from coming to find in Jesus what the sinners and tax collectors had discovered. They were invested in the status quo, which meant that they were also invested in deeply held illusions about themselves and the own moral quality. They didn't know how much they also needed what Matthew had found in Jesus. But if anything, the hardness of their hearts meant they needed it even more. Still, the mercy of Jesus was not closed to them. He spoke words that they might have been able to understand in order that, hopefully, they too could learn to respond.
Go and learn the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.""
We have all been uniquely called and chosen, in just the same free and gratuitous way as Matthew. But do we recognize it and are we grateful? Further, are we willing to see it widely shared with everyone, no matter their past? Are we even willing to share a table with sinners and tax collectors, even before they manage to fully transforms their lives? Jesus desires to show mercy and bring healing. Have we fully welcomed those things into our own lives? Will we allow him the freedom bring them through us to others in our world?
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
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