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The Call of Matthew, three points of view.

 

From Matthews viewpoint.

Matthew was smart, he had bid for his tax collecting franchise for the Romans. He had a nice thing going, from a financial point of view. So to throw all of this aside and follow this roaming preacher was no small thing. No only from loss of income, but also to put himself in Rome's bad books. Very risky. But then this was the effect that Jesus had on people, there was something magnetic about him. He could look at someone, call to someone and they would follow. And Matthew did. He not only followed but invited Jesus to supper. Would we? Would we have the insight and courage to invite Jesus to dinner? To give our lives over to him? It was all a big risk for Matthew but he was prepared to take it, and it was worth it.

 

From Jesus point of view.

Jesus assembled a strange mixture of followers to be the inside circle, fishermen, revolutionaries, students. And then a tax collector, a risky choice, someone who could break-up the team. Someone who was an outcast. But then we are talking about a Jesus who could see under the skin. Who had x-ray vision into peoples personalities. Who could see the potential in people. He chose Matthew not as the tax collector, but the writer of the first Gospel. Someone who would ultimately put pen to parchment to record the events and teaching of Jesus’s life. Jesus could see the potential in Matthew as he does in us.

 

From our point of view.

Having returned from the Provincial Parish Development School in the Yukon last week we discovered something of the church's mission over the last 100 years or more, how the early teachers of our faith tracked through harsh conditions to spread the faith. One Bishop even had to eat his boots when stranded in the woods. We are not generally expected to have such adventures. But calling on a neighbour, or someone we know in a nursing home or hospital is not an unreasonable calling for us.  We too have our missionary calling, but our journey may be a few hundred  yards or less. Jesus sees the potential in us, let us discover it for ourselves.

 

Dick Martin