Who, Me?

AM Psalm 119:41-64 • Isaiah 8:11-20 • Romans 10:1-15
PM Psalms 19, 112 • Job 28:12-28 • Matthew 13:44-52

The Collect for the Feast Day of St. Matthew

We thank you, heavenly Father, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of your Son our Savior; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

We know the story of Matthew, a tax collector, one of those collaborators with the Romans who, in addition to collecting the required tax, extorted the people for his own benefit. Matthew lived and worked in Capernaum, a town located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and on the main road to Damascus. It was a much larger and more cosmopolitan place than Jesus’ nearby village of Nazareth. One day Jesus and some of his disciples were walking by Matthew’s tax booth and Jesus said to him, “follow me.”

Matthew immediately got up and joined Jesus and that band of disciples, but before leaving town with them he held a big banquet in his home for Jesus, his disciples, and many of his fellow tax collectors. The Pharisees were scandalized, of course, and said to the disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus overheard them and replied, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick.” (Matthew 9:9-13, Luke 5:29)

Jesus didn’t give Matthew and the others much time to make up their minds. Two pairs of brothers who were fisherman, Simon and Andrew and James and John, “immediately” left their nets to follow Jesus when called. There’s a painting by Caravaggio, “The Calling of St. Matthew” (1600), which captures the drama of that moment in Capernaum.

Jesus is standing on the right side of a table with Matthew seated across from him counting “his” money. Jesus is pointing straight at Matthew (the one with the red beard), who points to his own chest as if to say, “Who, me?”

Jesus didn’t sugar coat what he was asking of these men. They knew their lives would be changed forever, and they might even be killed because of their decisions. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a twentieth century disciple and martyr, was thinking along those lines when he wrote, “When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.” (Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship.)

I sometimes wonder what I would have done if Jesus had pointed in my direction and said those words. But of course, he does say “follow me” to all who profess to be his disciples. After we had fearfully pointed toward our own chests, what would we do?

Written by Bob McMath

Most of the time, when I’m being honest with myself, I don’t have a good answer to that question.