Homily: Saturday, 1st Week in Ordinary Time - Year 2

Readings: 1 Sam 9:1-4,17-19; 10:1 Ps 21; Mk 2:13-17

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In Rome, not far from the touristy Piazza Navona, is the church of San Luigi dei Francesi (St. Louis of the French). In one of its side chapels are several paintings by Caravaggio depicting events in the life of St. Matthew. They’re all masterpieces but one is especially wonderful: “The Call of Matthew.”

Caravaggio: The Call of Mattthew

The painting depicts the same scene Mark describes in today’s Gospel passage: the call of Levi, the tax collector, a man you and I know better as Matthew. Caravaggio depicts an indoor scene, with Matthew seated at his money table, surrounded by a group of his well-dressed associates. Unlike these others, Jesus is barefoot, as if His simplicity and holiness separate Him from everyone else in the scene. Peter stands beside Jesus.

Although the room is rather dark, a beam of light appears to extend from Jesus, who is pointing directly at Matthew. And Matthew? Seated there with a questioning look on his face, he points his finger as well, but at himself, as if to say, “Who me? You’re calling me?” We seem to sense that Matthew was surprised by this call from our Lord.

Jesus had just called four fisherman -- Simon, Andrew, James and John – and I suspect they, too, were skeptical of this latest choice, the tax collector. After all, the people had nothing but contempt for tax collectors, who not only worked for the despised Roman rulers, but were also known for enriching themselves through a form of legal extortion.

But isn’t it remarkable? Matthew didn’t hesitate. Indeed, he responded immediately. As Mark tells us, “He got up and followed Jesus.” How different from the call of the future King Saul we heard in today’s reading from 1^st Samuel. Matthew and Saul both respond to God’s call, and both will stray. But one repents in faith and becomes apostle and evangelist, while the other continues in his obstinate rejection of God’s will.

Mark then takes us to Matthew’s house, where Jesus and the disciples join the tax collectors and others for a meal. The Pharisees, of course are scandalized that Jesus, this reputed holy man, would associate with these public sinners. But those who consider themselves holier than others are always scandalized, aren’t they?

How does Jesus respond?

“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” [Mk 2:39].

Indeed, you and I should love and cherish these words because we’re the sinners he’s talking about. How did Paul put it to the Romans: 

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [Rom 3:23]. 

Six months ago, I had my semi-annual meeting with my physician, a man I think the world of. He informed me that, despite my age and all my aches and pains, I was doing OK, and was probably good for another six months as long as I do as he tells me. Hopeful reassurance indeed. I guess I’ll find out next week when I meet with him once more.

But in Jesus we have a divine physician who promises us, not six months of health, but eternal life.

Brothers and sisters, that He came to call sinners should fill us with hope. As Jesus reminds us, to be a sinner is to be sick, sick spiritually. It’s an illness for which only He has the cure. But we’re called to celebrate that cure and to carry it to others.

Sometimes, though, as a Church, I think we spend an awful lot of our time and resources preaching and teaching and evangelizing the already converted – to the righteous, as Jesus called them.

Now, I know we can’t ignore those who are faithfully following the Way. But how present are we to others, to those who really need to hear the Gospel message? How present are we to those locked in their sinfulness?

It’s easy to fall into the trap of the Pharisees and avoid those who have drifted far away from God, those who believe they have no hope because they’ve never heard God’s saving Word or experienced His healing touch.

Maybe that’s what you and I should do today, shine a little beam of light, the promise of salvation, on another trapped in darkness.

Homily: Feast of St. Matthew

Readings:  Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13; Psalm 19; Matthew 9:9-13

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Calling Matthew to be an apostle, Jesus picked one of the unlikeliest of men. Matthew -- called Levi by Mark and Luke -- was a tax collector who probably worked for Herod Antipas, collecting taxes and customs duties. It was lucrative work, and rife with corruption.

Tax collectors set rates at whatever they thought the market would bear, paid the government a prearranged amount, and kept the rest for themselves. There were no poor tax collectors in the Roman Empire…and they were universally despised. Not only were they usually corrupt, but they also worked, either directly or indirectly, for the hated Romans, pagans who had subjugated the Jews.

By selecting a tax collector as an apostle, as one of His key disciples, Jesus must have caused quite an uproar, particularly among the Pharisees. The Pharisees scrupulously avoided the company of those they considered sinners and certainly wouldn’t sit down for a meal in one of their homes. That Jesus would actually accept Matthew’s dinner invitation and share a meal with tax collectors and sinners shocked their sensibilities.

But even more unlikely than the call of Jesus was Matthew’s readiness to accept that call. Why would Matthew leave everything, including his friends and occupation and fortune, to follow Jesus? Quite simply, he was touched by the grace of God. For that’s what Jesus’ call to discipleship is. God calls all Christians through Baptism, but He also extends, to whomever He chooses, a further calling. The special grace of this call allowed Matthew to give up the good life and follow Jesus.

Matthew saw in Jesus the hope of true friendship and peace with God. He saw in Jesus a wealth far beyond the material wealth he had accumulated and would have continued to accumulate.

Notice, though, Matthew doesn’t take the initiative, and neither do you or I. It’s Jesus who calls, and, like Matthew, we each respond to that call with an individual, personal decision. God calls, but He never insists.

Matthew could easily have said, “Not today, Lord, tomorrow. First, I have to put my accounts in order. I’m really not ready right now.” But this excuse and any other excuse are merely signs of selfishness and fear. And “tomorrow” – there are many tomorrows – and all run the risk of being too late.

Like the other apostles, Matthew was called in the midst of the ordinary circumstances of his life -- like Peter, Andrew, James, and John, he was called while at work. If you think about it, even St. Paul was called while at work. It might have been the work of persecution, but it was nevertheless the work he, as a Pharisee, honestly believed he was supposed to do. An interesting detail, isn’t it? We don’t normally think of God’s call coming to us while we are at work in our secular jobs, or even in our retirement. And yet that’s exactly what Jesus did, and continues to do. 

"Follow me," he calls to each of us.

Too often we compartmentalize our lives, separating our religious from our secular lives. But being a Christian, a disciple of Christ, isn’t part-time. It must permeate and overflow into every aspect of our lives -- because only then can we effectively share His message with others.

That’s why we must guard against the attitudes of the Pharisees, who were so critical of Jesus’ associating with sinners. For we’re all sinners, but Our Lord still calls us. He came to redeem us all, not just a select few. It’s dangerous to ignore this truth. If we don’t recognize our own sinfulness, our own need for redemption and forgiveness, we’re close the door to God’s saving grace.

And don’t be scandalized by the sins of others, since without God’s grace, we’re each capable of committing the worst of sins. Neither should you become depressed over your failings. Just look at the apostles: a collection of weak, sinful men that Jesus turned into saints. Their grace was their willingness to recognize their sinfulness and repent. Indeed, recognition that we are sinners is the only correct attitude for us to have in the presence of God.

Yes, we can learn much from Matthew. He’s really an apostle for all of us.

The sinner who became a saint.

The man who heard God’s call and responded immediately.

The one who was lost, until Jesus found him.

Jesus reached out to Matthew, and Matthew went on to reach out to the world as an Evangelist, and, through his Gospel, to all of us until the end of time.