St. Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist + Matthew 9:9-13 + September 22, 2017

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 

1)         Before Matthew was known as ‘Saint Matthew,’ before he was a disciple and apostle, and before the Holy Ghost inspired him to write the account of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection that bears his name, Matthew was simply a tax collector. He writes, “As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.” Matthew had a tax booth at the edge of the Capernaum city limits, so that travelling merchants and traders would have to stop and pay tax on their wares as they headed to market. Being the tax man is just another God-pleasing vocation. Paul tells the Roman Christians that we pay taxes so that the civil rulers can govern. He says, “Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor” (Romans 13:7). But it goes for the tax man as it does for all men in their vocations. The temptation is ever-present to twist their vocations and to use them not for the good of neighbor, but for one’s own good at his neighbor’s expense. This happened more often than not in the Roman tax system. In the New Testament, being a tax collector of any stripe put you on the same social strata as prostitutes and public “sinners.” Everyone knew what the tax man did in Caesar’s name. He charged what was commanded by Caesar but always added a little more on top of that, how much, no one really knew. But over time it was enough to make a man extremely wealthy. Matthew doesn’t give any details about his custom-collecting practices. By telling us that he’s a tax collector, he admits to being a member of the guild of the greedy, a state-sanctioned thief. That is really all we know about the man Matthew.

2)         And that’s really all we need to know. The Gospel wasn’t written to tell us about Matthew. It was written to tell us about Jesus. And while this text tells us very little about Matthew, it shows us the great love Christ has for the worst of sinners. Jesus approaches Matthew, sitting in his tax booth, and says to him, “Follow me.” What is remarkable about this is that Matthew “arose and followed Him.” Sitting on the edge of the city, having everyone pass by on a daily basis, Matthew would have heard about the good report about the man Jesus. He would have heard just moments before how He had healed a paralytic. What would have caused even more commotion was what Jesus said first to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2). Matthew would have heard of the man who could not only heal the infirmity of the body but the sickness of one’s soul. Only a man of God could heal a broken body with a word. But only God Himself can forgive sins. Matthew heard this and more before Jesus approached his tax stand. When Jesus says, “Follow me” He bids Matthew to far more than simply follow Him around. He commands Him to repent of his greed and thievery. He bids him to put away his covetous desire for money and stop worshiping mammon as that which could provide him with every good thing in life. He bids Matthew to leave his sin behind in repentance and believe that for Christ’s sake all his sins are forgiven, just as He forgave the paralytic moments before.

3)         Matthew rises and follows. He repents and believes the Gospel. He trusts that Jesus is faithful and just to forgive his sins and cleanse him from all his unrighteousness. And that confidence fills him to the brim with thanksgiving and joy. He’s so thankful that he invites Jesus to dine with him at his home. He’s so joyful that this burden of sin has been lifted that he calls his friends to come dine with Jesus so that they too can hear His Gospel. That’s how “many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.” These tax collectors and sinners came to hear Jesus preach them into repentance. Jesus didn’t eat with tax collectors and sinners to show solidarity with them. He didn’t entertain them at Matthew’s table to tell them that God loved them just as they were and didn’t want them to change. He told them the same thing He told everyone since He emerged from His forty day fast in the wilderness, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). It’s as if He said to them, “You are terrible sinners. Everyone knows this, including you. You know your hearts are sick with sin. Greed and gluttony are your idols and they only leave you empty. Repent. Lament your sin. Desire to be rid of it because today is the day of salvation. Repent and believe that for my sake all your sins are forgiven. “The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17), for “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” by faith (Romans 8:1). Repent. Then be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you.  

4)         When Pharisees see this happening, Jesus reclining at Matthew’s table, eating with tax collectors and notorious sinners, they do what they always do. “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” they ask. St. Luke writes that Pharisees, “trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others” (Luke 18:9). The Pharisees know the tax collectors and sinners are sick with sin and ill with iniquity. What they fail to see is that they are no better. The imagine themselves to be spiritually strong and healthy when in reality their condition is worse position than the tax collectors and sinners. Matthew and his friends felt their infirmity. They knew they were sin. The Pharisees ignore that in themselves. They are the man who has been ill for so long that he thinks his symptoms are what a healthy life looks like. The Pharisees are the sick man who is blind to his condition, avoids the doctor, and yet can easily diagnose his neighbors. The Pharisees confuse hypocrisy for health so they attack the Curer of souls and accuse Him of blasphemy. With a word Jesus reveals their diseased hearts. “Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” The Pharisees do not understand that they are in need of God’s mercy just as the tax collectors and sinners. So they are sent back to consider that God does not want their sacrifices of hypocrisy. He wants them to be merciful to their neighbors because they need mercy from God.

5)         The world is still full of Pharisees. Many imagine they are spiritually healthy when in reality they have lived with their sin-diseased hearts for so long they can’t see their true condition. We have that same Pharisaic attitude in our sinful flesh, always tempting us to believe that if we only curb our outward sins, then our sinful thoughts and desires don’t count as actual sins. We must always be vigilant against the temptation to count ourselves among the healthy and self-righteous, for then the words of Jesus offer us no comfort. He says to the Pharisees then, now, and to the pharisaic attitude that lurks in our hearts, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Jesus comes only for sinners, so be a sinner. Don’t willfully sin. That’s terribly dangerous to your soul’s salvation. Confess what you are in your heart, sick with sin, ill with iniquities, and diseased by death, the wages of sin. And then believe the words of Jesus to the paralytic which Matthew would have heard of while still sitting in his tax booth, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” Rejoice. Your sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. Give thanks. As Christ gave saving health to Matthew, and to all those who heard and believed, so He gives you that saving health as well which you possess by faith in Christ, and which will endure into eternity. Count yourself always among the sinners, for that’s whom Christ comes to heal. Amen. 

May the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.