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As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
- Matthew 9:9-17
Yesterday we read that after healing two demoniacs in the region of the Gergesenes, Jesus got into a boat, crossed back over the Sea of Galilee, and came to His own city. Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!" But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." And he arose and departed to his house. Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.
As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. Matthew is our evangelist, who is also known as Levi (Mark 2:14). It's interesting to me that this call comes in chapter 9 of the Gospel; what has come before is via witness reports. Clearly, Matthew was prepared to follow the Christ when the call came to him.
Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Jesus' calling of Matthew, and then dining in his home (presumably as a celebration of Matthew's discipleship) is a kind of revolutionary calling, a spiritual surprise, if you will. In yesterday's reading, Jesus spoke of forgiving the sins of the paralytic, and introduced the power of mercy in this ministry. We are to understand the roll of the tax collectors in Israel to clearly see this picture: they were Jewish men assigned by Roman overlords to specific areas. They were therefore free also to collect extra revenues for their own profit, backed by Roman power. As collaborators who were frequently corrupt and committed fraud against their own people. these men were hated by other Jews and considered to be unclean (11:19). As Jesus now dines with them and accepts a tax collector as a disciple, the Pharisees are offended. But Jesus' explanation of mercy and His role as Savior is simple: He goes where the need of a physician is the greatest. My study bible says that "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6) isn't a rejection of sacrifice per se, but rather shows that mercy is a higher priority (see Psalm 51).
Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." My study bible explains that typically the Jews fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and on Thursday. Additionally, public fasts were regularly observed and also occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3, Ezra 8:21-23, Esther 4:16, Joel 2:15). Fasting was particularly important on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and also in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19). But the day of the Messiah was seen as a wedding feast, not a fast -- that is, a time of joy and gladness, of fulfillment. Jesus is essentially proclaiming that day, and thus declares Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom. For Christians, this perspective teaches us that all fasting is really preparation for the Wedding Feast, casting a bright light on such practice as teaching self-control and focus on the fullness of the Kingdom. Jesus uses the worldly things all understand (in this case an old garment and old wineskins) as a teaching tool, standing in for the Old Covenant and the Old Law -- in this context, seen as imperfect and temporary (perhaps a little like fasting itself). New wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ. Wine connects us with a marriage feast and with covenant. My study bible says that the new wine is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.
Matthew's Gospel seems to repeatedly remind us of the breaking in of the Kingdom into the world, a union of the temporal and the eternal: that this is the purpose of the Incarnation and the full mission of Jesus' ministry in the world, and also ours as His disciples. We've been taught to pray to Our Father in heaven, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This "wedding feast" of imperfect disciples, even notorious and scandalous sinners, is a sign of that presence with us and among us -- a manifestation of that reality. We may not be able to see it in its fullness and perfection, but indeed it is here, and Christ dwells within us and among us, and our job is to shine His light into the world and manifest His Kingdom even in the here and the now -- as we look forward to the fullness of His day, His return, the great wedding feast. In some way, we celebrate with every Eucharist, as we too drink the new wine of the new covenant and are filled with it. The ancients understood very well this commingling of the eternal and the temporal; it defines the Incarnation, and it is the very stuff of Christ's signs. It shapes the paradox within which we are to try to know our faith. It is the expression of the liturgy; each Sunday is the celebration of Resurrection -- not a "commemoration," but a living of that day, a participation in that present reality that lives in us and within community. It is Matthew who will quote Jesus as teaching, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). In our imperfection as sinners, we are called to the fullness of His life and our faith: "We look to the life of the age to come." The real key here is how all of this happens, and it was in yesterday's reading, too: mercy; that is, specifically, forgiveness. When we participate in God's mercy by also forgiving -- that is, in my view, giving all things up to God, particularly our "debtors" as we pray in the Lord's Prayer -- so we exchange the worldly for the divine, and help to anchor the Kingdom in this world (see Romans 12:19). We find God's way for us. This is the great message of the Gospel, the whole center of this wedding feast with sinners who seek forgiveness and mercy and to participate in this Kingdom in faith. It is His mercy that is always making all things new, the essence of the Physician who heals and redeems everything, for the life of the world.
