Homily, Saturday, February 25, 2012

Luke 5: 27-32

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."

Church tradition has it that Levi, the tax collector and son of Alphaeus, was the evangelist and disciple Matthew. As the disciple Simon had his name changed to Peter as part of his conversion and Saul became Paul as part of his conversion so Levi became Matthew as part of his conversion. The Irish name "Mathuin" means "bear"; the Hebrew name "Matthew" means "gift of God".

And Levi was a wealthy man, leaving everything behind, he got up and followed Jesus. Today's reading from Isaiah says, "If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness and the gloom shall become for you like midday; then the Lord shall guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall rise up, "Repairer of the breach," they shall call you, "Restorer of ruined households." Isaiah's words describe Levi the Jewish tax collector and under the name Matthew the brilliant evangelist, for Matthew wrote his gospel to prove to the Jewish people that Jesus was the Messiah foretold throughout the Old Testament. And Matthew wrote to that end and effectively so. And Matthew as Levi the wealthy tax collector gave a great banquet for Jesus and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with Levi and with Jesus.

And the Pharisees and scribes were jealous and complained to the disciples and Jesus answered with one of those sayings familiar to all of us, "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."

And I add that Peter too was a successful man under the name Simon, the leading fisherman in the Sea of Galilee. If you visit the Sea of Galilee you can see Simon-Peter's house and it is a substantial house even by the standards of today.