St Matthew's Day - Year A

From a homily by Saint Bede the Venerable: 8th century.

"Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me." Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his merciful understanding of men."

He saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: "Follow me." This following meant imitating the pattern of his life - not just walking after him. Saint John tells us: "Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."

"And he rose and followed him." There is no reason for surprise that the tax collector abandoned earthly wealth as soon as the Lord commanded him. Nor should one be amazed that neglecting his wealth, he joined a band of men whose leader had, on Matthew's assessment, no riches at all. Our Lord summoned Matthew by speaking to him in words. By an invisible, interior impulse flooding his mind with the light of grace, he instructed him to walk in his footsteps. In this way Matthew could understand that Christ, who was summoning him away from earthly possessions, had incorruptible treasures of heaven in his gift.

“He saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him”…. It would seem that Jesus chose Matthew as an example of mercy for us all – he was not just talking to the Pharisees about why he, Jesus, would associate with the unacceptable of society.  That is, who the world thought unacceptable.

Through this calling of Matthew, we focus on Jesus’ words to us all…. “go and learn what this means.. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”.   He is quoting the prophet Hosea, and the context is really important for us.

As God’s voice, Hosea is bemoaning the Israel people as not steadfast, not consistent in their love of God… “your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early.”  It is very effective imagery – we had a huge fog yesterday morning, but the moisture was gone by 8.30 am, and, signficantly, with no evidence of it…. perhaps some memories, but no lasting proof.

And then Hosea writes the quotable words….”For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” 

God desires a consistent, stable relationship of love from us – we don’t need to worry about God’s side of that.  Even all those years ago, the prophets, like Jesus, were speaking against the religious culture of the day to invoke the true knowing of God.  Hosea tells the people that God craves love and knowing, not sacrifice and burnt offerings.  And Jesus tells the Pharisees, the leaders of the church, that he, God, has come to call not the righteous but sinners.  You can see how this would get right up the nose of the Pharisees, who saw themselves as very righteous.

We seem to not know much about Saint Matthew, what his ministry really was after Jesus died, nor how he himself died.  We wear red for martyrdom, but don’t really know – hence today the mixture of red and white, the latter for the Saints.  We attribute the Gospel to Matthew, the man called from his tax booth, called Levi in the other gospels.  It is a Gospel written for his fellow Jews – to reassure them that indeed Jesus is the Messiah prophesized in the Hebrew Scriptures.  This Gospel is often called a manual of Christian teaching as well.  It is very much for: “Jesus the teacher”. 

There is tremendous irony in the fact that Matthew is the patron saint of bankers.  Irony because bankers probably don’t see themselves related to taxmen, and the irony that at this time in world economic history, Matthew is probably the most prayed-to saint of the month!  I have never known much about Matthew, and I will be honest and say I still don’t seem to know much.  But the thing that sticks with me, and inspires me, is that Matthew, unpopular and of unnoteworthy worth, had the insight and courage to move into action when Jesus said, “follow me”.

Our challenge, it seems to me, is to discern the learning we need to acquire for God’s desire...“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

This weekend of St Matthew we have a parishioner sharing his faith journey with us, at the other services…. I asked Arthur Jayasundera to do this as he has just turned 70, and it seemed a good occasion to celebrate.  Importantly, since he left Sri Lanka 35 years ago, Grovely parish has been his spiritual home.  Arthur  is a role model in spiritual leadership in this parish, and all who know him, do indeed love him.  When I asked him the symbol of his faith journey last night, his response was “the unconditional love of God.”  That is his experience and indeed his journey to share. 

When we link Hosea to Christ, and God to our lives, we should find the same experience – being unconditionally loved.  And thus, the call on our lives, is to do the same.  This is what mercy is; love without conditions.  How many of us can say we practise this kind of love??

When I go to the homes of the terminally ill and find husbands and wives caring day in and day out for their spouse; that is the love that is found.

When the drug addict goes to the coffee van for a meal and drink and receives both without questions or questioning; that is the love that is found.

When your child slams the door in your face and yells abuse, and then joins the dinner table a little later without recrimination; that is the love that is found.

When you respond to the Alzheimer’s person for the fifteenth time with the same response, with a smile; that is the love that is found.

When the person who talks all the time and focuses only on themselves to such an annoying degree, and is accepted and is listened to; that is the love that is found.

When the authority people keep making the same decisions without learning, and you keep hopeful that one day things will change; that is the love that is found.

When you make a decision for a loved one that will benefit their life quality, and yet they begrudge, even hate you for it; that is the love that is found.

When you see the Christ in the other, when you do what you do for love only and not reward or victim and sacrificial ego building, when you meet people where they are at and not demand to know where they are going; that is the love that is found.

Mercy is about Christ’s love filtering the world to the point where people know who they are and feel good about who they are.  When we can love ourselves, we can love our neighbours, and so the God-cycle of love can continue.

Matthew may not have known he loved himself at the beginning of the day he met Jesus; but by the end of that day he could look in the mirror and say…

“I love you Matthew, because Jesus loves you and therefore you must be alright.”

Every day, look in the mirror and say to yourself… God so loved Arthur, Jan, Jill, Jerome, Joy, Frank. ……… whatever your name is………. that God gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.

Believe in the Christ; love yourself; love others; help create God’s world.  Amen.