Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR A TENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - 9.6.02 Hos 6,3-6; Rom 4,18-25; Mt 9,9-13 A Man named Matthew Today, we resume the ‘Sundays of Ordinary Time’, which we left on March 13th, to celebrate Lent, Easter & Pentecost. The period from today (Week 10) to Advent on 2nd of December (Week 34) will be spent on a continuous reading of Matthew’s Gospel. And this year, it just fits nicely that we resume with the story of Jesus calling ‘a man named Matthew’ saying: ‘come follow me’ (9,9). This gives us an opportunity to discover more about Matthew: what he was like & what he did... In Hebrew, the name Mattitiyahu is built on the word ‘Natan’(=he gave) & Yahweh (=God). It means ‘Gift of God’. Today’s story is skilfully set out, to arouse surprise & subtle irony: Would you believe it? This man whose name means ‘Gift of God’ was one of the most hated people in the land, one of those "tax-collectors" who, -protected by the Roman army- cooperated with the invading enemy troops & extracted exorbitant taxes from their own people; -and worse-, they made themselves filthy rich by demanding and defrauding everyone. So, what do you know? a man everybody hates is called by Jesus to become a disciple & he leaves everything behind & follows. So again, people are confused & complain. In the story, Jesus gives an answer by quoting the Prophet Hosea 6,6 (‘What I want, is compassion not sacrifice’), meaning by that, that God is now fulfilling a prophecy, namely that in his infinite mercy, God wants us all saved, even those who rob their own people to please the enemies & here are included even the harlots who sell their bodies to the enemy troops.. "One of the Twelve". But there’s a deeper insight: shortly after -in Chapter 10-, we read that Jesus raised Matthew, (this hated man & robber who sat at his tax-booth & extorted money from all), to the honour of being one of his closest leaders, one of the 12 Apostles, to represent the 12 tribes of Israel in his Kingdom, the Church. Why? It’s strange! Was it because Matthew was good at managing money - had good business acumen - was an educated man & a good writer? Certainly not! Then, what is Matthew trying to say to us, by heaping derogatory ‘naked-truths’ upon himself? His message seems to be this: look at me, -he says-. I have been dishonest indeed & deserve to be listed with robbers & murderers. Yes!, it doesn’t make sense that I -of all people- should rank as "one of the 12 Apostles"! And yet, of all people, God has also chosen me, to make clear to all, that no matter the mess we are in, God cares for us & still calls us. So, Matthew asks us too not to remain sitting in our own "Customs Office", but come out and follow the Lord. At the same time, the overall realization that Jesus came not to call the righteous but sinners, must never wipe out the hurt we’ve caused to others. The Church -at Matthew’s time & our time-, must never stop owning the awareness of being a Church of sinners. At the meal with tax collectors in Capernaum (Mt. 9,7& 10), Matthew seems to say: It is ironical that my name means ‘Gift of God’, yet I represent all ‘tax-collectors & sinners’ of whom Jesus is a friend. From this, we his ‘disciples’ are to learn the meaning of what the prophet Hosea had said: ‘I want mercy not sacrifices’ and at the same time, we must never stop owning our wrongdoing, both personal & collective. To us in Australia today, Matthew the sinner, offers a lesson: identify & own the huge hurts that our Church, -the Church we so dearly love!- has inflicted on victims of abuse & ‘lost generation’: this hurt will never go away from their lives, and must never go away from our responsibility ______________________________________ |
