I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners
Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Matthew the apostle and evangelist. Rightly, the gospel reading is taken from the gospel according to him, and it recounts his call. The amazing thing is how little the man writes about the greatest event and turning moment in his life. It is condensed in the words: "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." Almost certainly this was not the first time Matthew had seen Jesus. He had been preaching and working miracles in that town for some time.
We are not told when Matthew first heard Jesus' words. We are not told when he first decided in his heart to follow him should he ever have a chance to do so. We do not know what struggles went on in Matthew's heart and for how long; struggles of fascination at the magnetic personality of Christ, of remorse for past mistakes, of desire to follow Jesus, of fear of ridicule and judgment by those who despised him as a tax collector, of the lingering desire to hang on to the attraction of his past life. It was certainly not an easy decision. As a tax collector Matthew was despised and hated by his own people for serving an oppressive and pagan regime, the Roman empire, by extorting taxes from his own people. Matthew lived in the same neighborhood as Peter and Andrew, James, and John, and these would have been some of the victims of his extortion on their fish trade. How could he possibly hope to join their company as a fellow disciple?
Yet one day the impossible took place. Jesus passed by his customs office and told him: "follow me!" There was no time to waste in case he should change his mind. Matthew followed him immediately and made the event public by inviting him to his house. He is very brief about his personal feelings because they are of secondary importance. What mattered to him was that Jesus' message of salvation should be known. His call and the privilege to host the Lord occasioned the words: “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.”
The call of Matthew is a practical illustration of Jesus' teaching that we should not judge. We label others basing ourselves on external observations. But God looks beyond the labels and sees the potential of every person. No one could ever have guessed that a tax collector could turn out to be an apostle, and one of the only two out of the Twelve apostles who was an evangelist. The other lesson is that if you feel so unworthy to be in the company and the service of Jesus, then you are made of just the right stuff, for he came not to call the just but sinners to repentance. Only one thing is required, that when you sense his call in your heart, you do not hesitate to calculate what others might think. Just follow, like Matthew.
