Fr. Agustinus Sutiono O.Carm

Both Saints Matthew and and Luke used the name Matthew for the tax collector who received Jesus’s call. Saint Mark called this person Levi. In reality, bot names, Matthew and Levi, are two names for the same person. Due to the city he was born in and his profession as a Roman Tax collector he needed dual citizenship. For this reason “Matthew” is his Greek and business name, also the name used when dealing with Gentiles, and “Levi” is his Jewish name given from his parentage. Levi was the Hebrew name. As a tax collector, Matthew worked for Greek-speaking Romans. He gathered taxes from Hebrew-speaking Jews. For this reason, the Jews stigmatised or treated Matthew as a traitor as well as a sinner. Both labels means that he was excommunicated, excluded and made a stranger in his own home because of his job. That was a cruelty introduced and brought by nationalism and religión upon humanity.

Jesus came not to scatter people into groups or social class. Instead, he reconciled groups into one flock using the spirit of brotherhood. In his sight, all, including us, are children of God the Father and are brothers to each others. The fact that Jesus called Matthew and made him as one of his twelve disciples told us a lot about the heart of Jesus, the heart of God, not the heart of man. The heart of man tends to judge and exclude anyone else who is different. The heart of God calls everyone to gather. By calling him as part of the twelve, Jesus restored him from social punishment and exclusion, reconciled him to his sonship to God, healed him from being socially stereotyped and forgave him from his failings and sins as a tax collector. That call to discipleship to Jesus Christ speaks loudly about the importance of returning to our right before God as human person.

To judge and to punish other people for becoming a sinful person under the criteria of religious laws is definitely not our right. It is the prerogative right of God. We are supposed not to take it away from God. It is better to ask ourselves: “Who are we that we judge others?” than to scrutinise and condemn others on behalf of our own false piety and religious view. The question addressed to the disciples of Jesus by the Pharisees: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” was an example of that judgement, exclusion and punishment. It seems that it was not enough for the Pharisees to judge and punish their fellow human being. They also wanted to direct and dominate God that God complied to their criteria of piety. However, the truth and wisdom of God was declared clearly: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” Thank you Lord for welcoming us, sinners and including us into your mercy and into the dischipleship to your Son, Jesus Christ.