10th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.

Mt 9:9-13

Call of Matthew by Caravaggio

COMMENTARY

He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.”

Previously Jesus had already called four fishermen to follow him, Peter, Andrew, James and John. Now he calls a tax collector. Is it not intriguing why Jesus did not call anyone from a more “respectable” profession? Perhaps Jesus saw through their outward appearance. He saw in them the potential for apostolic work. And it would be the work of Jesus in their three years together to develop that potential.

Is this not the work of a teacher? Is this not the mission of a parent? To bring out the best that is already in the student, that is already in their child.

In Mark’s gospel, Matthew is called Levi, son of Alphaeus. In Luke he is merely called Levi. Matthew’s name is found in the list of the apostles. But early on there has been doubt about the identification of this Matthew with Levi. There is also doubt about this Matthew being the Matthew of the first gospel.

And he got up and followed him.

Why did Matthew leave behind a very comfortable life in order to be a disciple of Jesus? Jesus had already warned those who wanted to follow him: “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head” (Lk 9:58). Had Matthew gone mad?
We make decisions based on the values that we have. And sometimes those decisions seem foolish.

Take for instance, a janitor at the airport. He returned a bag containing a couple of thousand dollars. To him it was the natural thing to do. Yet some of his relatives who do not share the value of uprightness told him: “Are you so stupid to return that money? You could have used it for your family.”

St. Paul said to the Corinthians: “We are fools for Christ’s sake” (1Cor 4:10). Sometimes our Christian values make us do certain things which seem foolish in the eyes of the world.

While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples.

Why were tax collectors lumped together with sinners? In the Roman Empire the office of tax collector was given to the highest bidder who then worked as an agent of the Roman government. As long as the tax collector met his quota, he could keep whatever profit he made. It is easy to imagine how tax collector en-riched themselves by squeezing whatever they can from the people. It is no won-der that the Pharisees branded them as the worst of sinners together with thieves and prostitutes.

Birds of the same feather flock together. Is it surprising to find fellow tax collectors and sinners invited to dinner by Matthew?

Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are. If you want to develop a positive outlook in life, keep the company of positive people.

Parents need to get to know the friends of their children. It is enough to have only one bad companion for your child to go wrong.

The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

According to the teachings of the rabbis, one should not accept the invitation of a sinner. In this case what made matters worse was that Jesus was in the com-pany of not just one but many sinners. This scandalized the Pharisees.

But it was normal for Jesus to behave in ways that scandalized the religious leaders. For instance, Jesus healed on the Sabbath, something that rabbis forbade. In fact, when he healed a woman who could not stand erect for 18 years, the leader of the synagogue told the people: “There are six days in which work is to be done. Come on those days to be healed and not on the Sabbath.”

Why did Jesus behave differently? Because his beliefs are different. Regarding the Sabbath, Jesus believed that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

What does this mean for us? If we want to know why we behave in certain ways, we have to find out what are the beliefs behind those behaviors. For instance, I work here and every month I send money back to the Philippines. Some of those to whom I send money do not work. Yet every month I continue sending money. Why? What is my belief that makes me send money every month? Is my belief correct?

Here is another simple example. A third year HS student said that he doesn’t go to confession because priests are also sinners. What is his belief that makes him to not go to confession? Is that belief correct?

I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.

Joseph wanted to divorce Mary quietly but an angel appeared to him in a dream and said, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Right from the very beginning the mission of Jesus was made clear. He came for sinners. And at the end of his life, one of the last words of Jesus was for sinners: “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”

Jesus had a soft heart for sinners. He even sought them out as what happened to Zacchaeus. He was on a tree, curious to see who Jesus was. And what did Jesus do? He purposely stopped in front of the tree, looked up to Zacchaeus invited himself and his disciples to his house that day. Zacchaeus was no ordinary tax collector. He was the chief tax collector. And when he expressed the desire to change his ways, Jesus happily announced: “Today salvation has come to this house. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost” (Lk 19:10).

Did Jesus come for you? If you don’t need to be saved from your sins, then Jesus did not come for you.