Friends,
our Gospel for today is the simple but magnificent story of the
conversion of Matthew. I urge you to read it and meditate upon it this
week, for it’s about you. The Bible says that Jesus told
Matthew, "Follow me." The call of Jesus is meant to get into your mind,
and then past your mind into your body, and then through your body into
your life, into your most practical decisions.
And then we hear that Matthew "got
up and followed him." The verb used here in the Greek is the same verb
used to describe the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead: Matthew rose.
Conversion means a transition into a higher life, arising from a
preoccupation with the goods of the world and a reorientation to the
things of God. Then
we hear what happened after Matthew’s conversion: "And as he sat at
dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were
sitting with him and his
disciples." This deeply annoys the Pharisees, who ask of Jesus’
disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
The answer is that Jesus loves sinners, and he doesn’t require
perfection before he approaches them.
Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 381
Hear this, you who trample upon the needy
and destroy the poor of the land!
"When will the new moon be over," you ask,
"that we may sell our grain,
and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat?"
We will diminish the containers for measuring,
add to the weights,
and fix our scales for cheating!
We will buy the lowly man for silver,
and the poor man for a pair of sandals;
even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!"
On that day, says the Lord GOD,
I will make the sun set at midday
and cover the earth with darkness in broad daylight.
I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentations.
I will cover the loins of all with sackcloth
and make every head bald.
I will make them mourn as for an only son,
and bring their day to a bitter end.
Yes, days are coming, says the Lord GOD,
when I will send famine upon the land:
Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water,
but for hearing the word of the LORD.
Then shall they wander from sea to sea
and rove from the north to the east
In search of the word of the LORD,
but they shall not find it.
As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, "Follow me."
And he got up and followed him.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat with Jesus and his disciples.
The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,
"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
He heard this and said,
"Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Go and learn the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."
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