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While tax collectors are not a favored profession even today, in Jesus’ time, because of the Roman occupation, tax collectors were hated even by their own families. No good Jewish mother hoped her son would grow up to become a tax collector. A priest or doctor yes, but not a tax collector! Tax collectors were seen as servants of Rome and traitors of their own communities. To be a tax collector in Judea was to be a despised person. The only folks who would even socialize with tax collectors were known sinners and other tax collectors.
So when Jesus calls Matthew to follow him, it is an act that every decent Jewish citizen would see as repugnant. While we who are looking at this story through modern lenses find the Pharisees rebuke of Jesus’ action as the wrong response, they were actually saying what most of the folks were thinking. Judaic society had laws for every aspect of human life, including what folks were allowed to socialize i.e. have meals with others. Tax collectors were at the bottom of the social scale, because of their open allegiance to Rome.
Tax collectors were also known to be dishonest. They would demand higher taxes than even the Roman law demanded in order to line their own pockets. They were socially shunned by the respected folks. Only the notorious sinners were seen socializing with them. Yet, from this group, Jesus chooses one of them to be one of his favored Twelve.
So what did Jesus see in this tax collector that no one else saw? It wasn’t as though Jesus did not know that Matthew was a tax collector. The scripture is very clear, “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth”. No one, but a tax collector would be sitting at the tax booth. The tax booth was like a modern neon sign saying, ‘Tax Collector! Pay your taxes here!” Yet, Jesus saw past the professional trappings of this man. Jesus saw a man worthy enough to become one of His chosen Twelve.
This despised tax collector would not fail his new master. Matthew would become one of the Four Evangelists of the Early Church as the writer of one of the Four Gospels in the New Testament. He is the only gospel writer that wrote the good news of Jesus in Hebrew, the religious language of the Jews. The very people who hated Matthew for his profession would become the very ones that Matthew’s heart was compelled to share the good news of Jesus the Messiah.
How could this be? Humanly speaking, it would seem that the one person who was mistreated the most by his fellow Jews would care the least about their eternal souls. So for Matthew to direct his gospel to those who hated him the most, something amazing must have happened to change Matthew’s heart towards his scoffers.
Perhaps we can find the answer in Jesus’ answer he gives to the Pharisees’ rebukes. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” By his response, Jesus is telling the Pharisees and the other ‘good folks’ in the town that he knows Matthew is a sinner. It is exactly because Matthew is a sinner that makes him qualified to become one of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus’ answer is earth-shattering. In only a few words, Jesus has turned the whole Judaic social system upside down. Jesus has shown the hated tax collector God’s mercy.
In Matthew chapter five, beginning with verse forty-three, we read these words of Jesus, “‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers and sisters,* what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Jesus taught these words on a mountain to his disciples before Matthew, the tax collector was called by Him. In His own way, Jesus was preparing those closest to Him to accept the tax collector Matthew as one of them even before Matthew became one of the Twelve. Jesus knew the prejudice against tax collectors and used it as a teaching tool to prepare the hearts of His followers to create a safe place of acceptance for Matthew the tax collector. Jesus’ words bore good fruit. His disciples do not chasten Jesus for calling Matthew. Instead, they are seen sitting at dinner with Jesus, Matthew the tax collector, other tax collectors and known sinners. It is in fact to these disciples, who have accepted Matthew as one of their own, that the Pharisees pose their rebuke of Jesus’ questionable practices.
Jesus’ disciples set a precedent for the Church by imitating the actions of their master. The Church was first founded as a place of healing for the outcasts, the destitute and notorious sinners of society. It was to be a place where all are welcomed and healed.
Sadly, many churches have become too much like the Pharisees, instead of like the original disciples. Outcasts of our post modern society are no longer flocking to hear the good news of Christ. Instead, many churches have become havens for the respectable folks to get together away from the downtrodden. By turning a blind eye to those who need to hear the Gospel of Christ the most, we have forgotten the first mission of Christ and that is to rescue those who need rescuing. We are to be a fellowship where the misfits of the world are given not just a place at the table, but a prominent place.
Yes, we send funds to support charities and some even go and work in soup kitchens. All of which is a good thing to do, but come Sunday morning the dynamics change. The very place where the Lord’s Table is set and offered to the Body of Christ for nourishment and healing is not where the homeless and destitute gather. Most of them are probably not in church, because they do not feel welcomed. While some of their physical needs are being met through charities, the place where they can receive the spiritual healing that comes by being a part of the community of believers is closed to them.
In the mid 1800’s, William Booth saw this gaping hole in the Church and decided to do something about it. He started the Salvation Army to reach out to the downtrodden, the homeless, and the outcasts. This remarkable ministry of Christian love in action has been successful in reaching the neglected ones in the world. However, instead of changing the Church, it became just another charity for churches to donate their funds without getting up close and personal with the rejects of society.
Here at St. Raphael’s, we need to not only open our purse strings to helping others, we need to open our doors. We can become the church that Christ wants us to be when all are truly welcomed to worship with us. When Sunday morning becomes a time of joining together in Christ with people from all walks of life, then we will know that we are following in the footsteps of Christ.
Jesus did not hesitate to invite people to join with Him. His was an open invitation to all peoples whether they were considered proper or improper folks. The Messiah who came to change the world did not seek out the rich, but the poor. Like His Father, Jesus looked into the hearts and called those who needed Him the most. Jesus’ mission needs to become our mission if we truly want to serve the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul.
Of the Twelve whom Jesus called, ten would die a martyr’s death. Matthew the tax collector was one of those ten. In 70 AD, for sharing the good news of Jesus the Messiah in Haddayar, Ethiopia; Matthew was pinned to the ground with stakes driven through his hands and feet and then decapitated. The one whom Jesus had chosen from the outcasts remained faithful to his Lord until the end. Although Matthew’s life was cut short, his written Gospel continues to bring many to the Physician who healed and changed his heart forever.
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