This weekend is the annual solemn celebration of Saint Matthew, our patron.
Matthew had a dirty job; he was a tax collector.
Jewish tax collectors collected taxes on behalf of the Roman rulers of first-century Judea. They were objects of scorn and even hatred among their own communities, since they worked on behalf of the occupying power and often earned their living by collecting more than the state’s due.
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 human beings.
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. St. John tells us: Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
Jesus saw something in Matthew that no one else saw; something that Matthew himself did not perceive. Today, many people do not see themselves welcomed to the Church; they feel they are not the “right type”. They are scorned and are deeply hurt by rejection—LGBTQ+ persons, some immigrants, divorced persons, etc.
Matthew becomes a witness to the Mercy of God. If you teach nothing else, help people understand that they too are looked upon by Jesus with eyes of mercy and compassion and are invited to join him.
Pope Benedict said in 2006 that “in the figure of Matthew, the Gospels present to us a true and proper 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 lives.”
Isn’t it a delight to remember that our patron saint was not perfect, and was not excluded from intimacy with Jesus. When we are fallible as Matthew, remember, Jesus looks on you with mercy and calls you to follow him.
Father Steve Adrian
Icon of Saint Matthew in the Basilica of Saint Apollinaris, Ravenna. Source: Wikimedia Foundation.
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