The Feast of St. Matthew Observed

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen. Today we celebrate the feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist.

! And this morning's reading from chapter 9 of his gospel is short, only five verses. But in those five verses we read not only the story of his calling, but the pattern of how Christ deals with each of us.

Before Matthew became an apostle, he was a tax collector, despised for collecting money from his own people, and often associated with corruption and dishonesty.

He wasn't the sort of man anyone would have expected a holy teacher to keep company with. We read in Matthew chapter 9, verse 9, St. Bede tells us that Christ looked upon Matthew with merciful understanding.

He knew who Matthew was and the life he had lived, and still he called him. Matthew doesn't get his life straight and then come to Jesus.

Our Lord comes to him first. But Christ doesn't come to tell him that nothing needs to change. The collect for this feast remembers that God didst call Matthew from the receipt of custom to be an apostle and an evangelist.

He was called from one life into another life. Grace does not excuse us and leave us where we are. It calls us out of sin and into new life in Christ.

I want us to consider two observations and both reveal one truth. The mercy of Jesus Christ does not just find sinners, it changes them.

The first is that our Lord seeks sinners because he is the physician who comes to heal the sick. The Pharisees see Jesus sitting with tax collectors and sinners and ask why their teacher would eat with such people.

Jesus responds in verse 12, Jesus comes to sinners because sinners need healing.

Sin alienates us from God. It disorders our desires. It damages our relationships. And ultimately, it leads to death.

And so Christ comes as the physician of our souls because we are sinners who need mercy. Our Lord then says, I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Jesus is quoting the prophet Hosea. He's not saying that sacrifice and worship don't matter.

God himself commanded sacrifice under the old covenant. What our Lord condemns is outward religion without inward faithfulness, observance without mercy and love.

This was the mistake of the Pharisees who saw sinners around the table and complained that Jesus sat with them. And likewise, Christ has come to us.

Like Matthew and the others at the table, we are sick. We are sinners. Separated from God by sin. And God became men to restore us to himself.

Our Lord took our sin and death upon himself on the cross. And through his resurrection, defeated death and opened to us the way of life.

But notice what happens to Matthew. Jesus doesn't say, remain where you are. He says, follow me. The mercy of Christ not only receives the sinner, it transforms them.

The second observation looks at Matthew's response. Matthew doesn't thank the Lord for the opportunity and then continue counting coins. No.

He immediately got up and followed Jesus. And others followed behind Matthew. The gospel tells us that Jesus sat down at the table with many tax collectors and sinners, came and sat down with them.

St. Luke tells us that Matthew made a great feast for Jesus. You see, Matthew receives mercy. And immediately that mercy overflows towards everyone around him.

His first response to grace was thanksgiving. And his thanksgiving becomes an invitation for others to encounter Christ. Christ. This is what repentance looks like as a way of life.

It's not merely feeling bad about what we have done. It's a turning of the whole self, mind and body toward God. The words follow me set the course for the rest of Matthew's life.

And just as Christ comes to us, those same words are spoken to us. Now, most of us have something we would rather Christ not see.

Yet the gospel reminds us that he already sees us completely, just as he saw Matthew at the tax office.

He knew Matthew and still he called him. That's why the collect asks for grace to forsake all covetousness, desires, and inordinate love of riches.

Matthew had to leave his old life behind. Likewise, whatever keeps us from following Jesus is what we must leave behind. Nothing we have done places us beyond the reach of our Lord's mercy.

But his mercy is never permission to remain where he found us. The account of Matthew's calling is a portrait of the Christian life.

Christ comes to us in mercy, calls us away from sin, joins us to himself, and then sends us back into the world changed by grace.

This brings us to the sacramental life of the church. Our Lord has not called us from a distance. In holy baptism, we are washed, joined to Christ, and made members of his body.

The physician of our souls has given us new life. And having called and washed us, our Lord continues to feed us at this altar in his holy Eucharist.

The same Christ who sat at Matthew's table gives himself to us as heavenly food, his own body and blood.

So that life he has given us may grow within us, that he may dwell in us and we in him. And having received such mercy, we are called to carry it to others.

Matthew brought the people he knew into Christ's presence, and we are called to do the same. Therefore, let us be like Matthew.

Let us hear the voice of Christ. Let us rise and follow him, leaving behind whatever keeps us from answering his call. And let us spend our lives giving thanks to our Lord for calling sinners like us into his grace, into his healing, and into new life in him.

Amen. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.