The Calling of Matthew – this week’s Bible reading 9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” What Jesus did was very unexpected. The people in the story were not people that others would want to get too close to and yet Jesus made a point of spending at least some time with them. It was when the Pharisees were asking his disciples about why he was spending time with tax collectors and sinners, that Jesus made the comment that it was sick people, not healthy people, who needed a doctor. This story begins (v. 9) with the call of a disciple: the account is quite short and follows the pattern from earlier in the Gospel (see Matthew 4.18-22). The scene then moves into a house, where a party seems to be in full swing. The guests are described as ‘reclining’ in the original language, which would usually suggest a special, festive occasion. The Pharisees who are there do not regard the other guests as ‘polite company’ (v. 11). The term ‘sinners’ refers not to people who do wrong, but to the ‘wicked’ Jews who had abandoned the law and were outside the covenant, equivalent to Gentiles. In response to the Pharisees’ understandable protest, Jesus quotes Hosea 6.6 and thus provides biblical support for his welcome and inclusion of those who were on the margins of society. We know something about the choices Matthew has made. He has chosen money in place of community, but he is still called by Jesus. This story helps us to celebrate the fact that Jesus welcomes people who may be classed by others as losers. A Prayer Gentle Jesus, you call out to us when we are far from you help us to follow you. Faithful Lord, you love us, even as we have wandered far from your love help us to follow you. Healing Christ, you hold the power to make us whole help us to follow you. Just Redeemer, you challenge us to work for the poor and powerless help us to follow you. Good Teacher, you show us God's will and teach us his ways help us to follow you. Intimate Friend, you call us by name and know us by heart help us to follow you. Amen. .