Thursday September 21, 2017
Matthew is an evangelist, a prophet, and a disciple among the Twelve. We all share the same hope and the same call and so must make every effort to preserve unity among us. We must all strive to build up one another in the knowledge of God's Son and to share the favor that has been given to us. Matthew's Gospel: emphasizes many of these exhortations because his community was being torn apart by persecution by the Romans and the Jews and they are struggling as Jewish and Gentile Christians to be one heart and mind in Christ.
Matthew was a tax collector. He stops taking from others to give to the state and the temple treasury. He begins giving of the mercy and healing/health of mind/soul/spirit that Jesus so graciously offered to him. What are we called to leave behind so that we can begin giving to each other?
Alternative
A pastor once ran into a “lost sheep” of his parish. This man had stopped going to church a long time ago. The pastor gently invited him to return to church. The man said with no little self-righteousness: “Father, I don’t go because the church is full of crooks and hypocrites.” And the pastor responded: “If so, please do come. We can always make room for one more.”
The Church belongs to saints and sinners alike. Perhaps more sinners than saints, for the Church exists for their sake: “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do.” We go to Church not to proclaim our righteousness to the world, but to humbly declare our sinfulness and need for God, and to receive His mercy and healing. By calling Matthew to belong to his band of apostles, Jesus makes it very clear that from the greatest to the least in the Church, everyone is sinful and all stand in need of God’s mercy.