The Gospel Reading for the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (Matthew 9:9-13) has two parts: v.9 (Jesus’ call of Matthew) and vv.10-13 (Jesus at Matthew’s house with other tax collectors and sinners, interfered by the Pharisees).
First, let us see how Jesus’ call to Matthew came.
To do so and to reflect on how we can become disciples of Jesus, think of a
situation to quit your job for a leap of faith.
When we quit a job, we tend a letter or note of
resignation to an employer. We cannot just walk out of your job to resign.
But, that is what Matthew did. He just walked out of
his tax-collection station and quitted his tax-collector job. And he did not
tell his boss. In the middle of his shift, Matthew just walked out of his job.
It was simply because Jesus just passed by and called Matthew to follow him
(Matthew 9:9) – as fisherman brothers, Peter and Andrew, did, just leaving
their fishing nets and another fisherman brothers, James and John did, leaving
their fishing boat and their father, Zebedee (Matthew 4:18-22).
Though Peter, Andrew, James, and John also gave up
their career to follow Jesus, without asking Jesus to tell them more about what
it would mean or entail to follow him, their employment situation was different
from Matthew. Jesus simply said to Peter and Andrew that he would make them
fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). But, it is questionable that they understood
what Jesus meant by “fishers of men”. Nevertheless, they followed Jesus.
For Peter, Andrew, James, and John, fishing was
their family business. It was not that they fish for a big business under a
contract. So, their income was rather meager and unstable, as it was often
influenced by mother nature – even though they all were experienced and skilled
fishermen. And, it was literally a stinky job to fish. On the other hand,
Matthew, as a tax collector for the Roman government, enjoyed a steady income.
It was almost guaranteed to have a steady pay, as long as the Romans ruled the
Jews in Judea and Galilee. And, like Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-9), many tax
collectors collected more than what the Rome demands in order to pocked extra
money. Though Jews hated that some Jews worked for Caesar to collect Roman
taxes out of them, it was nevertheless a lucrative job, especially if you know
how to cheat when collecting.
To understand why tax collectors were hated by the
Jews – though they were also fellow Jews, it is important to know a bit of
history.
During that time, the Jewish people did not have a
national sovereignty. As a matter of fact, during the reign of king Zedekiah, the
Jews lost their national sovereignty when the Babylonians seized and destroyed Jerusalem
and the Temple (586-587BC). After 70 years of the Babylonian exile, they were
allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their nation, thanks to king Cyrus the
Great of Persia, who concurred Babylonia in 539BC. However, it was not
independence, as they remained subject to the Persian rule. What king Cyrus
allowed the post-exilic Jews was religious freedom to worship Yahweh and some
self-governing power among the Jews. So,
instead of king, the Jews under the Syrian rule had a governor. But, it was not
like having their own king to rule. The Book of Esther reminds how the Jews
could have been wiped out with a political conspiracy, if being under a foreign
rule – not having their own ruler.
The Jews had to pay taxes for their foreign imperial
ruler throughout the post-exilic period. So this continued even after the Persian
rule, the Greek rule, to be carried into the time of the Roman rule – except
for a brief period of Jewish independence as a result of the Maccabees revolt
(167BC). But, this did not last long as this Jewish state of the Hasmonean dynasty
was conquered by the Roman Empire and became a Roman vassal state in 63BC and
abolished in 37BC. Thus, by the time of Jesus, the Jews were living under the
Roman rule, and Herod was a king without full sovereignty as he was more like a
puppet king controlled by Rome. Thus, the Jews were subject to the Roman law
and Roman taxation.
The fact that Matthew simply abandoned his
tax-collector job and followed Jesus immediately upon being called suggests that
Matthew had been struggling with the forces of his conscience for being a tax
collector. Though he sure could have enjoyed to have a steady income,
guaranteed by the powerful Roman Empire, deep within as a Jew, it must have
been morally difficult to serve the “conquistador Caesar” at the expenses of
his fellow Jews. But, Matthew did not have the courage to just quit such a
morally challenging job on his own. He just needed an external push. And it was
a call from Jesus to follow.
Unlike when Peter, Andrew, James, and John were
called by Jesus to follow, Jesus has been already well-known by the time he
called Matthew. So, it is likely that Matthew was very well aware of the great
teaching of Jesus. By that time, Jesus had already delivered the Sermon on the
Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:28) and healed many (e.g. Matthew 8:16-17). In fact, just
before he passed by Matthew’s tax collection station, Jesus healed a paralytic
man (Matthew 9:1-8).
So, even though he did not have the courage to quit
the morally problematic tax collector job on his own conscience, Matthew was
able to leave the job without hesitation when Jesus suddenly came and called
him to follow.
Rather than serving Caesar, even it meant to have a job security for himself, Matthew must have wanted to do something for his people, the Jews. And he just latched on the call from Jesus, knowing what he had taught and done for healing many.
Then, the Gospel text describes the situation during
dinner at Matthew’s house.
Jesus was with a company of a bunch of tax
collectors and “sinners” at dinner, hosted by Matthew. Then, the Pharisees saw
this and complained about Jesus dining with spiritually filthy people – tax
collectors and “sinners”. Hearing this, Jesus said, citing from Hosea 6:6:
God
and learn the meaning of the words, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”. I did not
come to call the righteous but sinners (Matthew 9:13).
“I desire
mercy(chesed), not sacrifice”…these words from Hosea 6:6 were originally
given to Ephraim (the lineage of Joseph) and Judah (the royal lineage of David)
in response to their failures to honor the covenant (Hosea 6:4-7). It was
because God was tired of meaningless sacrifice offerings from the faithless
Ephraim and Judah (e.g. 1 Samuel 15:22-23; Isaiah 1:11-20; Jeremiah 7:21-22).
Though it is translated as “mercy”, the original
Hebrew word, “chesed”, in this
context, refers to loyalty and righteousness. By citing this, Jesus was
implicating to the Pharisees that these hypocrites who obsessively pressed on
moral purity need to learn that God is more pleased to see them helping sinners
turn to God with mercy, rather than keeping themselves from them for the sake
of “moral purity”. Jesus was very critical of the Pharisees’ superficial “moral
purity”(i.e. Mark 7:1-23), and calling them hypocrites for their such religious
practice (Mark 7:6).
Jesus came to help sinners repent and reconcile –
turning their hearts away from sins and to God. In fact, Jesus was sent to us
for this conversion, which is necessary for salvation.
Jesus’ call to follow changed his life, from being
an indecisive sinful man in inner moral struggle to an influential disciple of
Christ and evangelizer to have written his Gospel on his master, Jesus, and his
teaching. And as his disciple and as an evangelizer, by writing his Gospel, Matthew
seemed to have wanted to reach out primarily to the Hellenized Jews, as their
faith tended to be shaky. Matthew must have wanted them to solidify their faith
in God, being away from Greek pagan pantheistic culture.
As you read through Matthew’s Gospel, it is evident
that Matthew really intended his Gospel to aid the conversion of hearts for
those who wish to follow Jesus as the Messiah (Christ), as prophesized in the
Old Testament, and the King of kings. He really desired the readers of his
Gospel not to forfeit their chances for the Kingdom by failing to turn back to
God through Jesus’ teaching. Jesus’ most extensive sermon, known as the Sermon
on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:29), was only recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. And
Matthew shows how Jesus explained the Torah with authority to help people live
an authentic life of faith.
Upon being called by Jesus, giving up his job
security and lucrative income as a tax collector for Caesar, Matthew began to
live an authentic life of faith – a Christocentric life for the Kingdom. And his
Gospel was to help its readers to be saved into the Kingdom by living an authentic
life of faith – a Christocentric life. And such a life of faith – a Christocentric
life, bound for the Kingdom is also reflected by Paul in the First Reading (Ephesians
4:1-7, 11-13). In this, Paul describes that what Matthew describes as a life of
faith bound for the Kingdom is also to build up the Body of Christ, namely the
Church on earth (Ephesians 4:12) until we attain unity in the faith and in the
knowledge of Jesus (Ephesians 4:13).
With Jesus’ call to follow him, Matthew was able to
overcome his astraddle state of mind between lucrative tax collector job and
the Kingdom to which Jesus invites. He wrote his Gospel of Jesus and his
teaching so that its readers can find Jesus’ calling to follow him to his
Kingdom, living an authentic life of faith – Christocentric life – build up the
Church, the Body of Christ.
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