“God Calling: Matthew”
Matthew 9:9-13
I know that I’ve got problems.
I’m a sinner like everyone else.
I often find that I am a slave to ways of being that I want to change.
I am sick and in need of healing.
So, Jesus has come for me.
And that is what Jesus does.
And that’s what Jesus did for Matthew, isn’t it?
(pause)
In our Gospel Lesson for tonight, we are told that Jesus was walking along and He “saw” Matthew… “a man named Matthew.”
Jesus saw a person.
And Jesus saw all the vulnerabilities of this person.
Jesus saw this person who was being used by the Romans—(the Empire that had taken over his country)--he was being used as a tool by the Romans to rip off his own people.
And as a result, he was despised by his own people.
Jesus saw this person who had become a tax collector.
And tax collectors were working for the enemy.
They were cheating people—stealing from people, really.
They would force people, single mothers with children, older folks—anyone who couldn’t pay out of their houses and into the streets.
They had no scruples.
They had no empathy or care for other people.
Money was their god.
They had basically sold their souls.
Jesus saw the insecurities and fears that played and worked in Matthew’s life to bring him to the point of being this way.
He saw the assaults on his self-worth that damaged him and had made him ripe to accept this as his life’s work.
He saw the despair that Matthew must have felt—knowing that he would never be anything other than what he was now—a despised tax collector.
How many other people had ever really “seen” Matthew?
Or had he only felt the judgment of others his entire life?
Had he always lived on the margins?
I mean, what had possessed him to turn to such a wicked profession?
Had he always felt like he didn’t fit in?
Perhaps he had never sensed or experienced an unconditional love from his parents, siblings, and extended family.
Maybe he had a father who would come home drunk and take his frustrations out on little Matthew saying: “You’ll never amount to anything!!!”
Perhaps he had been bullied on the playground.
Maybe he had been socially awkward or shy, and thus felt shunned by his peers.
Maybe he had always been a loner, not that he wanted to be a loner—but a loner just the same.
Perhaps he felt that people were never gonna like him for who he was anyway so he might just as well, at the very least, get rich by becoming a turncoat Jew and ripping off folks for the Roman government.
And of course, as these decisions always do—they made Matthew’s life even worse.
They caused Matthew to be truly, truly hated.
And so, when people looked Matthew’s way they would give him “the evil eye,” or the “angry look,” or the “blank stare.”
Because everyone who looked at him saw only one thing: a man that they hated; a man that they despised.
Have you ever had someone who despised you, for whatever reason?
Or have you ever been hated, even if for but an instant, because of a remark you made or something insensitive you said to someone?
If so, you know the look someone gets in their eyes when they hate you.
For us adults, even driving too slow on the freeway or meandering at a light after it has turned green can cause someone to give us that look.
Minorities in this country probably can bring the image of that look into their minds much faster than a fair-skinned, light haired Anglo such as myself.
I would imagine that there are very few African Americans who have not seen the glare of hatred in a stranger’s eyes.
There are probably very few Hispanics who have not dealt with the same thing.
Homosexual people know that look.
Homeless persons would definitely be able to relate.
Police can probably relate as well, along with so many service people who returned from Vietnam in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
It’s a look which regards the other as “less than human” or the enemy.
It’s a murderous look.
It’s a horrible thing.
It’s a dehumanizing thing.
There ain’t no love in it.
I’d imagine Matthew knew that look very well.
He’d become accustomed to it.
It was probably the only look he ever got from any “so-called” respectable person.
But then one day, Jesus came along.
And Jesus is the perfect embodiment of God’s unconditional love.
And the perfect embodiment of God’s unconditional love must have been what Matthew the tax collector sensed—experienced—felt as Jesus walked along and really “saw” him.
And I’d imagine that this is something Matthew had never experienced before.
And it was so radically different from anything he had ever known, that he knew it was something special…
…he knew it was something priceless…
…he knew it was of another world…another kingdom.
We can only imagine the impact that Jesus’ intimate, accepting, loving look had on Matthew.
And then, Jesus called him personally.
He said to him, “Follow Me.”
In other words, “Come with Me.”
“Enter into a relationship with Me.”
“Join Me in My relationship with others.”
“Help Me create a community—the Church-- that embodies God’s rule on earth.”
“Just be with Me.”
The Scripture simply states: “and he [Matthew] got up and followed him.”
And THAT is what LOVE can do.
It’s also interesting, to notice, in this passage, what Jesus did not do.
For instance, Jesus did not give Matthew “The Look.”
Jesus did not look upon Matthew with judgment and anger.
Jesus did not hate on Matthew.
As I mentioned before Jesus “saw” Matthew.
And when Jesus “sees people” Jesus has compassion on people.
If we were to dissect the Gospels this evening, we would be unable to find a single negative word coming out of Jesus’ mouth toward the people on the margins of His day.
Jesus' strong words are never to the outsiders like Matthew but rather to the people who exclude them.
At the same time, Jesus continually invites those who exclude to join Him in extending God's embrace to the excluded—to have open hearts, open minds, open doors.
When Jesus “saw” Matthew, Matthew was ripping off common folks by collecting taxes for the Roman government.
And when Jesus “saw” him, did Jesus scold him?
Did Jesus say to him: “Matthew, you have to get your act together, and then, maybe…just maybe I’ll come back here and you can follow Me?”
No.
Jesus just called him.
And where did Jesus go after He called Matthew?
He went to eat at Matthew’s house, and a bunch of other tax collectors and sinners came to eat with them: prostitutes, the handicapped, lepers, alcoholics, the mentally ill, the alienated, the low class, the marginalized, women.
And when the religious establishment saw this, “they said to [Jesus’] disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’”
And they didn’t ask this out of curiosity, wonder, or a genuine desire to learn or understand.
Their judgment was already in.
Their verdict had already been cast.
Their kind didn’t hang out, get close to, or even give the time of day to people like these.
These were the hated ones.
These were the despised.
They wouldn’t have been caught dead being nice to these folks, let alone eating with them!!!
When Jesus heard their judgments, He turned to them and said: “Go and learn what this means: I want mercy and not sacrifice. I didn’t come to call righteous people but sinners.”
Of course, that includes all of us doesn’t it?
The source of genuine conversion is always unconditional love.
Any transformation that comes about in our lives, comes through loving acceptance and trusting relationships.
And true, unconditional love comes from Jesus Christ.
And those of us who follow Jesus Christ are called to mimic His love for others.
And this is what it means to follow Him.
And it transforms our lives into something beautiful.
It frees us from self-hate, sickness, and spiritual death.
(pause)
I know that I’m a sinner.
I often find that I am a slave to ways of being that I want to change.
I am sick and in need of healing.
So, Jesus has come for me.
And that is what Jesus does.
And that’s what Jesus did for Matthew, isn’t it?
And that is what Jesus does for you.
Do you know that?
Will you follow Him?
