Matthew 9:9-13

Matthew 9:9-13

As Jesus passed by,

he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.

He said to him, “Follow me.”

And he got up and followed him.

While he was at table in his house,

many tax collectors and sinners came

and sat with Jesus and his disciples.

The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,

“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

He heard this and said,

“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.”

Opening Prayer: Father in heaven, you sent your Son to call sinners into communion with you. Give me the grace to hear his voice and follow him faithfully. Reveal anything to which I am too attached, and give me courage to leave it behind. Free me from self-reliance and fill me with your mercy, so that I may become a faithful disciple and witness to your Gospel.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Public Sinner: Matthew, also called Levi, was a tax collector at Capernaum. As a tax collector, he was regarded by many Jewish people as a public sinner. He “worked hand in glove with the reigning power and had to be classed as a public sinner on account of his social position” (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Vol. 1, 178). We do not know whether Matthew personally defrauded people or practiced his profession justly. Nevertheless, his occupation placed him on the margins of respectable Jewish society: “Matthew, in fact, not only handled money deemed impure because of its provenance from people foreign to the People of God, but he also collaborated with an alien and despicably greedy authority whose tributes, moreover, could be arbitrarily determined” (Benedict XVI, Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church, 82). Yet Jesus did not see Matthew merely according to his reputation or occupation. Jesus saw the man whom grace could transform. Before Matthew had demonstrated his worthiness, Jesus called him: “Follow me.” Matthew’s response was immediate. He “got up and followed him.” The call of Matthew reminds us that Jesus does not wait for us to become worthy of discipleship before calling us. His call itself is an invitation to conversion. Grace does not merely forgive the sinner while leaving him unchanged; grace calls him into a new way of life. The tax collector becomes a disciple, the disciple becomes an apostle, and the apostle becomes an evangelist.

2. True Holiness: Jesus’ decision to eat with tax collectors and sinners provoked the Pharisees, who could not understand how someone claiming to be holy could associate so closely with people whom they regarded as unclean. Their mistake was not in desiring holiness but in failing to understand the purpose of holiness. Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” True holiness does not consist in separating ourselves from sinners because we imagine ourselves to be righteous. It consists in allowing God’s mercy to transform us and then becoming instruments of that same mercy for others. The person who recognizes his own need for grace becomes capable of extending grace to others. Matthew’s life reveals this paradox. “Those who seem to be the farthest from holiness can even become a model of the acceptance of God’s mercy and offer a glimpse of its marvelous effects in their own lives” (Benedict XVI, Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church, 83). Matthew rose from his customs post, left behind the life he had known, and followed Christ. His conversion was not merely a change of occupation. It was the beginning of a new life centered on communion with Jesus. And Matthew did not keep this encounter with mercy to himself. He opened his home to Jesus and invited other tax collectors and sinners to meet him. The sinner who has encountered mercy becomes a missionary of mercy. The same Matthew who once sat at the customs post for the Roman Empire eventually proclaimed the Gospel and gave his life to announcing the Kingdom of Heaven.

3. From Disciple to Evangelist: Matthew’s encounter with Jesus eventually bore fruit in the Gospel that bears his name. Each of the four Gospels presents the mystery of Christ from a distinctive perspective. Mark emphasizes Jesus as the suffering Messiah and Son of God. Luke highlights the universality of salvation, especially God’s mercy toward the poor, lowly, sinners, and Gentiles. John leads us more deeply into the mystery of Jesus’ divine identity and his sacramental and Trinitarian life. Matthew presents Jesus as the New Moses and King who inaugurates the Kingdom of Heaven. Through his teaching and mighty deeds, Jesus gathers a new people and teaches them how to live as citizens of his Kingdom. Matthew structures much of Jesus’ teaching around five great discourses, like the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus reveals the righteousness of the Kingdom. This is significant when we consider who Matthew himself was. The Gospel of Matthew is, in a sense, the fruit of a tax collector’s encounter with the King’s mercy. Matthew had been sitting at a customs post, concerned with earthly wealth and the structures of an earthly kingdom. Jesus called him to leave that life behind and become a servant of the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew therefore gives us a powerful image of Christian discipleship. Jesus does not simply call us away from something; he calls us toward himself and into his Kingdom. The Christian life is not merely the abandonment of sin but the acquisition of a new way of life in Christ. The person who encounters Christ’s mercy is sent to proclaim that mercy to others.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, like Matthew, I am often attached to the things of this world. You know the desires, possessions, ambitions, and fears that can keep me from following you freely. Show me what I need to leave behind. Give me the courage to rise and follow you, and make my life a witness to the transforming power of your mercy.

Living the Word of God: Matthew did not keep his encounter with Christ to himself; he became an apostle and evangelist. Have I allowed Christ's mercy to change the way I live and treat others? What attachment, ambition, or habit might I need to leave behind to follow him more freely? How well do I know the Gospel of Matthew? Could I set aside time this month to pray with it more deeply so that I can become a more effective witness to Christ and his Kingdom?