A CALL TO SALVATION.

Jesus calling Levi/Mathew

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

The Holy Gospel reading for the second Sunday after New Sunday is from St Mark 2: 13-22. Let us meditate on the following verses (v 3-17):

“Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.

And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”  (St Mark 2:13-17; NKJV)

The setting of this Holy Gospel portion is Capernaum- a Jewish fishing community situated on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. The Gospel of Mathew calls Capernaum as Jesus’s ‘own city’ (St Mathew 9:1). Not only Capernaum was an important spot in Jesus’ Galilean ministry, it was as well the hometown of Jesus' fishermen disciples Simon, Andrew, James, and John and, it was the setting wherein Jesus beckoned the tax collector Levi/Mathew to follow Him.

We understand from the Gospel portion that St Mathew’s initial profession was that of a tax collector. Tax officials aren’t the loved lot nowadays nor were they then. In fact, they were a fiercely hated group.

Sitting in his tax booth, Levi’s focus would have been to collect the taxes on goods (like fishes) for Herod Antipas. He must have heard Jesus teaching the multitudes by the lakeside; maybe he must even have been a witness to the miracle of catching the fishes by Simon (on instruction of Jesus). 

Something might have stirred in him to leave aside his wrong doings and start afresh. Like the lost sheep which frantically looks for its shepherd, Mathew wanted to trace his way to the Lord and start a new life. But he dared not; because of his profession he was ostracised man and wasn’t sure if Jesus would accept someone like him.

It is said in the verses above that as Jesus “passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me”. Even when our Lord is moving around, teaching and preaching, His eyes are constantly looking for His lost sheep. The Lord, who searches the heart’ (Jeremiah 17.10), knew the turmoil in Mathew’s heart and called- ‘Follow Me’.

St Matthew didn’t think twice about saying a ‘yes’ to the call. In answering that call, St Matthew lost a great deal of material wealth but gained for himself a vast spiritual treasure. In saying yes to the Lord’s calling, St Mathew had closed the chapter of his flourishing career forever. The fisherman disciples still had a back-up i.e. they could do fishing which was a decent profession. But St Mathew was to never return to his tax collecting business.

In his work on the patristic commentary of the Gospel of John, Fr Tadros Malaty quotes Pope Gregory the Great thus,

“The Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Truth, has said: “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God,” (Lk 9:62). Why did Peter return to do what he had left? We know the he was a fisherman while Matthew was a tax collector. Peter resumed his work after he had become a believer, whereas Matthew never returned to be a tax collector. That is because obtaining a livelihood through fishing is one thing, while tax collecting is another. There are many jobs that cannot be partially or wholly done without committing mistakes. It is forbidden to resume such jobs after becoming believers as they are associated with sin.”

Afterwards, we then see Lord Jesus dining at St Mathew’s house with our tax collectors. The account in St Luke’s Gospel states that Levi gave a great feast in his house (St Luke 5:29). St Mathew didn’t keep Christ’s gift of grace for himself (the name Mathew means ‘Gift of God’); he shared it with his business colleagues, who like him, were disliked in the Jewish community. Bishop Kallistos Ware quotes St Mark the monk in his book-The Orthodox Way:

"The saints must need offer repentance not only on their own behalf but also on behalf of their neighbour, for without active love they cannot be made perfect. So the whole universe is held together, and we are each of us helped providentially by one another."

The actions of St Mathew raise an important question- if we were to host a meal for our workplace colleagues -how would the discussion proceed? St. Mathew was able to speak meaningfully to his co-workers about Christ’s love and bring others to Him. St Mathew could so, because he first followed Christ’s call. We cannot bring others especially our co-workers to Christ unless we have first said a ‘yes’ to His call. As Christians, how can we speak meaningfully on how the Christian concepts apply for workplace issues like career management, work life balance, job search, people management etc.? Are our parishes equipping us for such conversations?

The so called ‘keepers of the law’- the scribes and the Pharisees weren’t joyful about the repentance of the tax collectors, but in their hatred against the Lord, question Him as to what sort of a person He is to dine with the tax collectors and sinners.Jesus responds that He has come to call those who are aware of their weaknesses or sins. Christ will not be welcome in the hearts of those who consider themselves as righteous. 

The below anecdote about a short sermon of the well-known spiritual guide- Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh highlights this issue:

"One Sunday Metropolitan Anthony Bloom gave a sermon as follows:

'Last night a woman with a child came to this church. She was in trousers and with no headscarf. Someone scolded her. She left. I do not know who did that, but I am commanding that person to pray for her and her child to the end of his days to God for their salvation. Because of you she may never go to church again.'

He turned around, head down, and entered the Altar. That was the entire sermon."

Aren’t we like the scribes and Pharisees-we consider that being a part of the church is our entitlement. Will we ever allow an outcast or a downtrodden feel a part of our community? For us, others accepting Christ isn’t as important as making them feel worthless and sinful-unable of getting God’s mercy.

May the prayers of the Apostle St Matthew help us to respond to God’s call with a bold ‘yes Lord’ and empower us to bring other to Christ.

In Christ,

Rincy

Capernaum in modern day Israel.