The Word Among Us: A Catholic Devotional based on the Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Monday, September 21, 2015
Meditation: Matthew 9:
9 As Yeshua passed on from there he spotted a tax-collector named Mattityahu sitting in his collection booth. He said to him, “Follow me!” and he got up and followed him.
10 While Yeshua was in the house eating, many tax-collectors and sinners came and joined him and his talmidim at the meal. 11 When the P’rushim saw this, they said to his talmidim, “Why does your rabbi eat with tax-collectors and sinners?” 12 But Yeshua heard the question and answered, “The ones who need a doctor aren’t the healthy but the sick. 13 As for you, go and learn what this means: ‘I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifices.’[Matthew 9:13 Hosea 6:6] For I didn’t come to call the ‘righteous,’ but sinners!”
9 As Yeshua passed on from there he spotted a tax-collector named Mattityahu sitting in his collection booth. He said to him, “Follow me!” and he got up and followed him.
10 While Yeshua was in the house eating, many tax-collectors and sinners came and joined him and his talmidim at the meal. 11 When the P’rushim saw this, they said to his talmidim, “Why does your rabbi eat with tax-collectors and sinners?” 12 But Yeshua heard the question and answered, “The ones who need a doctor aren’t the healthy but the sick. 13 As for you, go and learn what this means: ‘I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifices.’[Matthew 9:13 Hosea 6:6] For I didn’t come to call the ‘righteous,’ but sinners!”
Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (Feast)
Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? (Matthew 9:11)
Jesus had a knack for doing exactly the opposite of what everyone expected. If he wasn’t healing on the Sabbath or preaching a message at odds with established wisdom, he was mingling with exactly the wrong sort of person or forgiving public sinners. This was because, unlike most of his detractors, he looked beyond the outward appearance of a person or situation and saw deeper truths and hidden beauty. In other words, he looked at life with heavenly eyes.
So what did Jesus see that caused him to pick Matthew out of a crowd and invite him to become a disciple? Certainly part of the reason was to make it clear that God has a place for even the most hated of people. He wanted to show that even those people we might be inclined to reject have sparks of goodness in them that, when cared for, can begin to burn with God’s love.
But what did Jesus see specifically in Matthew that led him to call him? How would this self-centered tax collector help him bring about the kingdom of heaven? What specific gifts did he bring?
Maybe Jesus saw that Matthew had a stubborn persistence and persuasiveness. It can’t have been easy to squeeze money out of people on a regular basis—and his own people at that! Maybe it was his education; some people believe that the Gospel that bears Matthew’s name is the most finely crafted and best written of them all. Perhaps Matthew simply had an ability to face people without embarrassment or self-consciousness—a trait equally useful for both tax collectors and evangelists!
You might already have an idea of the talents you have that can be used for God. But perhaps your most obvious gifts aren’t the only ones that God wants to use. Could it be that he wants to use you in a new way? Perhaps he can even use a trait that you’ve always considered a negative one. So don’t limit the possible ways that God can use you in building his kingdom. What does he want to accomplish through you? How will he use you next? Ask him!
“Lord, I praise you for your great plan. I open myself to your guidance. Show me how I can serve you today.” Amen!
Ephesians 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner united with the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
2 Always be humble, gentle and patient, bearing with one another in love, 3 and making every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit gives through the binding power of shalom. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as when you were called you were called to one hope. 5 And there is one Lord, one trust, one immersion, 6 and one God, the Father of all, who rules over all, works through all and is in all.
7 Each one of us, however, has been given grace to be measured by the Messiah’s bounty.
11 Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers. 12 Their task is to equip God’s people for the work of service that builds the body of the Messiah, 13 until we all arrive at the unity implied by trusting and knowing the Son of God, at full manhood, at the standard of maturity set by the Messiah’s perfection.
Psalm 19:2 (1) The heavens declare the glory of God,
the dome of the sky speaks the work of his hands.
3 (2) Every day it utters speech,
every night it reveals knowledge.
4 (3) Without speech, without a word,
without their voices being heard,
5 (4) their line goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he places a tent for the sun,
____________________________
Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? (Matthew 9:11)
Jesus had a knack for doing exactly the opposite of what everyone expected. If he wasn’t healing on the Sabbath or preaching a message at odds with established wisdom, he was mingling with exactly the wrong sort of person or forgiving public sinners. This was because, unlike most of his detractors, he looked beyond the outward appearance of a person or situation and saw deeper truths and hidden beauty. In other words, he looked at life with heavenly eyes.
So what did Jesus see that caused him to pick Matthew out of a crowd and invite him to become a disciple? Certainly part of the reason was to make it clear that God has a place for even the most hated of people. He wanted to show that even those people we might be inclined to reject have sparks of goodness in them that, when cared for, can begin to burn with God’s love.
But what did Jesus see specifically in Matthew that led him to call him? How would this self-centered tax collector help him bring about the kingdom of heaven? What specific gifts did he bring?
Maybe Jesus saw that Matthew had a stubborn persistence and persuasiveness. It can’t have been easy to squeeze money out of people on a regular basis—and his own people at that! Maybe it was his education; some people believe that the Gospel that bears Matthew’s name is the most finely crafted and best written of them all. Perhaps Matthew simply had an ability to face people without embarrassment or self-consciousness—a trait equally useful for both tax collectors and evangelists!
You might already have an idea of the talents you have that can be used for God. But perhaps your most obvious gifts aren’t the only ones that God wants to use. Could it be that he wants to use you in a new way? Perhaps he can even use a trait that you’ve always considered a negative one. So don’t limit the possible ways that God can use you in building his kingdom. What does he want to accomplish through you? How will he use you next? Ask him!
“Lord, I praise you for your great plan. I open myself to your guidance. Show me how I can serve you today.” Amen!
Ephesians 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner united with the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
2 Always be humble, gentle and patient, bearing with one another in love, 3 and making every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit gives through the binding power of shalom. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as when you were called you were called to one hope. 5 And there is one Lord, one trust, one immersion, 6 and one God, the Father of all, who rules over all, works through all and is in all.
7 Each one of us, however, has been given grace to be measured by the Messiah’s bounty.
11 Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers. 12 Their task is to equip God’s people for the work of service that builds the body of the Messiah, 13 until we all arrive at the unity implied by trusting and knowing the Son of God, at full manhood, at the standard of maturity set by the Messiah’s perfection.
Psalm 19:2 (1) The heavens declare the glory of God,
the dome of the sky speaks the work of his hands.
3 (2) Every day it utters speech,
every night it reveals knowledge.
4 (3) Without speech, without a word,
without their voices being heard,
5 (4) their line goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he places a tent for the sun,
____________________________
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