matthew

Jesus calls us too.

“While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples” (MT 9:10).

We as the Church, followers of Jesus, still have much to learn from Jesus. Today’s reading provides another wonderful example. Once Jesus begins his public ministry he is constantly on the go. Going where? Meeting people in the midst of their daily lives as he did with Matthew. And what is the response to Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, and then partaking in table fellowship with other tax collectors and sinners?

Matthew accepts his invitation to follow. The Pharisees question the disciples about his practice and curious onlookers follow at a distance. But to those who have, maybe for the first time in their lives, been respected as fellow human beings, their response is hope. A hope that there actually may be a path leading in from the peripheries. A hope that they no longer have to be on the outside looking in. A hope that they, for the first time in their lives might finally belong.

Jesus is shown time and again encountering the person as they are in their present circumstances and the chaos of their lives. He welcomes, is present, and embraces each person as they are. Yet he doesn’t want them to stay where they are. He invites people to be part of something greater than their self-absorbed posture, their self-imposed and externally imposed limitations and instead to actualize their potential and embrace a life of meaning and purpose. The only requirement is that they are willing to: repent, be forgiven, be healed, be loved, be human, be free, and once experiencing this encounter with Jesus, share what they have received with others.

When we are willing to follow Jesus and become his disciples as Matthew did, then we can experience the same hope for a new beginning. To follow we must have the humility to recognize our sinfulness, repent, recognize our dependence on God and our need for him and his love more than anyone or anything else. As we do so, we can begin to heal and let go of the apparent goods that we thought would bring us happiness which have instead led us astray, and renounce those false hopes that we have placed our security in.

We will find that, only in God alone will we find our fulfillment, hope, and security. Jesus invites us to experience: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). This is the promise and fulfillment that no other pursuit or person can bring. God is the foundation and source of all, and at the same time he knows each and every one us better than we know ourselves. He invites us to grow in our relationship with him so we can know him too.

We do this best as we get to know his Son, Jesus whom he sent, not to condemn us, but to save us. Jesus draws close to us as he did with Matthew so that he can experience the chaos of our lives. He loves us in the midst of the best and the worst and invites us to experience something better. Called and willing to be healed, forgiven, and transformed like Matthew, we too, can experience God’s mercy. Jesus will then send us as well to be beacons of the light, hope, and love for those who are in need of God’s healing and peace.

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Painting: The Calling of St. Matthew, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1600. We may be as surprised as Matthew, but Jesus does call us as well!

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, September 21, 2024

Are we willing to see his star?

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage” (Mt 2:1-2).

This account from Matthew has much for us to ponder as we draw closer to the end of the Christmas season and begin another year together.

The magi – the wisemen, astrologers, three kings as the magi are represented in different accounts and song were watching, for they saw “his star at its rising.” As soon as the star rose, they looked upon it and knew it was a sign of “the new born king of the Jews.” And then they followed the star. They left the place of birth, their homes, their comfort to do this baby homage. This baby who was not a king of their people but another people in another land.

They faced no danger that we know of on the way, although this was no easy journey. The only danger that comes is when they approach King Herod and they no longer can see the star. Herod is “greatly troubled” by this announcement of the promise of the king of the Jews in his territory for unlike John the Baptist, Herod is not willing to become less so that Jesus can become more.

That the Christ is to be born in Bethlehem is revealed by the chief priests and the scribes, but that the new king has been born is unknown to Herod or to them. Herod, nor the priests, or scribes are aware of this new birth until the magi had told them, even though they had the scriptures. Their hearts and minds were closed to the truth because they were unwilling to do what the magi did, do him homage and surrender their lives to this newborn king.

Upon the magi’s leaving King Herod, they saw the star again, and the magi followed it with great joy. They followed it and came upon the house in which Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were staying. “The house”, no longer a cave or a stable. When Joseph and Mary first came to Bethlehem, they were refused entrance into any home or inn. At some point someone was willing to allow them shelter and a place to stay.

The magi came to Jesus and did him homage and gave them their gifts. Then were warned in a dream to not return to Herod. They honored the newborn king and not King Herod, and they left for their country by another way.

On this day as we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany with this account from Matthew, we can just endure this story or pass it off as a nice tale we hear each year. Or, like the Magi, we can allow our hearts and minds to come alive with the wonder and gift we have been given. We can assess where we find ourselves right now. Are we more like Herod or the magi? Are we closed to moments of wonder and the divine light leading us or are we watching and praying to see the invitation that Jesus offers us in our lives at the beginning of and throughout each, and every day? It is easy to slip into a life of business, of just doing one thing after another, and we miss the star rising in our hearts that is leading us to experience a deeper relationship, a deeper experience of the king of our lives.

We are invited this morning to open our hearts and minds to the newborn king. We are invited to slow down and enter an ongoing and growing relationship with him. We have an opportunity to invite this newborn king to have access to all of us, that we may, like the magi, prostrate ourselves before him and surrender our whole lives to him.

Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star, and it is rising from the depths of our souls and into our hearts. Are we willing to see this Light, are we willing to follow and be transformed by this Light, and are we willing to radiate this Light to others?

Jesus is the Light that invites us to be loved, to receive his love, and allow it to touch our pain, our wounds, our fears, and our insecurities, that we may rest and abide in his love. As we do so, we can learn how to breathe again, our shoulders can come out of our ears, we can be still and if need be, let the tears flow, so we can be healed, so we can be made whole again, so we can live our lives as a people who hope, dream, and wonder in this new year.

Photo:  A beautiful day enjoying the radiance of the light back in October.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, January 7, 2023