THEIR WORD GOES FORTH THROUGH ALL THE EARTH(Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13/Psalm 19:2-3,4-5/Matthew 9:9-13)

THEIR WORD GOES FORTH THROUGH ALL THE EARTH

(SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019
St. Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist, Feast)

The Gospel of today reveals little about the Apostle that Jesus called in the midst of his work as a tax collector, except that as a collaborator with the Romans he was an outcast from Jewish religious practice (the Law), and as one who made his living by collecting taxes, he was generally despised by everyone except other tax collectors or law breakers. As a hereditary Jew within his own world, Matthew presumably would have been marginalized – alienated from communal relationships, and divided from his roots and family life by the work that he did in collaboration with a hated political oppressor. Even raised a Jew, such a person in the first century would have had little opportunity, or even desire, to know and ponder the intricacies of the Law of Moses and its implications for relationship with God. But in the context of his work and associations, Jesus calls him into a new kind of family – one that will be united in the Grace of God’s own Spirit – united in companionship with Jesus in service to the Father.

In the gospel of today, we saw how the grace of God transformed Matthew from being a tax collector to an apostle, from a public sinner to an evangelist, to a giant spiritual figure whose work in the gospel of Matthew stands as a reference point of telling the whole world about the Good News of Christ. We can put the life this way—Matthew was a tax collector, a dreaded collaborator with the occupying Roman army. But Jesus called him and Matthew followed. Matthew was sick, a sinner, and needed a physician. Jesus had the necessary medicine: mercy. I am glad that Jesus did not listen to the Pharisees who were too pure to reach out to Matthew but rather said “Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice and I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.”

Matthew’s Gospel challenges us to forgive over and over, whether friend or enemy, to go the extra mile, to be generous about observing custom so that we don’t cause scandal.
By placing the text from Ephesians 4 in the liturgy of this feast, the Church seems to be hammering home this same point. We are united by our relationship to One God and our absolute faith in Him that is revealed by relationship to Jesus. We are united by the life of Baptism and its accompanying presence of God’s own unified life within each member. We have diverse gifts, diverse responsibilities, and diverse insights. We come from diverse – perhaps even warring backgrounds – but once we are in Christ’s Body the power of God’s Spirit invites us to labor on behalf of the good of the whole Church, not just our corner of it or our idea of it.
Saint Matthew took the teaching of Saint Paul to heart.

He proclaimed the Good News of Jesus. In the words of the psalm response, his message went out through all the earth. In doing this, he helped equip his hearers to take the story of Jesus to their world. Actually, we do not know much about Matthew’s ministry, although we do have a little written piece he left behind! That has been building up the holy ones for the work of ministry over two-thousand years now. Each person has gifts. Each person receives the grace necessary to use those gifts. Let us be glad that Matthew used his.

Let Us Pray: Lord Jesus, give me grace to hear you when you call me and may I spend my life living well ai that others may come to know you through me like saint Matthew. Amen.