Proverbs 3. 13 – 18
Matthew 9. 9 – 13
St Matthew’s Day, with Holy Baptism
Fr Alex
I’m always struck by how brief Matthew’s conversion account is. Indeed, to use a tax-collecting metaphor, you might be feeling a little ‘short-changed’ after only getting to hear five little verses of Gospel reading this morning. And only one solitary verse deals with the conversion itself.
And it’s not just the length of the account that perhaps surprises us: it’s the simplicity of what’s described. “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.”
Compare this with some other conversion accounts you might be familiar with. St Paul’s, for example, with blinding lights, falling off his horse, a vision from Christ and a miraculous healing of his sight.
None of that here: “He said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.”
Don’t forget, this is Matthew describing his own conversion experience; the most important moment of his life. So why does he seem to treat it in such a brisk, almost off-hand way? Of course, if we look a little deeper, bound up in the simplicity of those few words, the most incredible transformation is in fact revealed to us.
Matthew is a tax collector – and when we think of tax collectors in the ancient world, we don’t think of them as being like the tax collectors of our own day, those lovely and innocent people who work for HMRC…
These were people who colluded with the Roman occupation. They pocketed much of what they took, and didn’t care who they took it from, or the consequences of their taking it. They were people with low morals, but with power over the lives of others: a recipe for exploitation and abuse that we see all too often in the world today.
And so the tax collector, along with prostitutes, was a synonym for the lowest of the low; hence the amazement of the Pharisees when they see Jesus associating with them, “tax collectors and sinners.”
As Jesus is walking along he encounters Matthew the tax collector, literally in this low position: he is sitting down, at the tax booth. Perhaps the usual thing for a tax collector to do, but also an indication of the state of his life, his relationships with others. He is in a low place.
But when Jesus says “follow me,” he stands up. It might not look like much of a transformation to us, but hidden in this little phrase and the simple act of standing up, is an astonishing thing.
The word Matthew chooses to describe his conversion experience, his action of standing up in response to Jesus’ call, is the same word that he will later use for Jesus’ resurrection. Anastasis – literally, ‘up standing.’
He reveals in this word that in this moment of calling, he dies a kind of death to the old way of life, of greed and exploitation, and rises up for Jesus: just as Jesus, going to death burdened with our sins, will rise into new and wonderful life.
And Matthew will complete this amazing transformation by doing what Jesus calls him to do: by following him. Not in the simplistic sense of following Jesus by trailing along behind him; but following him in a much more powerful way. “Follow me” is an invitation to think and speak and do as Jesus does: to become like Jesus.
And as he becomes more and more like Jesus, he will be able to rise even further up: to follow where Jesus will go and ascend into heaven, into God: he will become like God.
We are celebrating exactly the same thing today, as we bring young Kit to baptism. We are celebrating the same call that Jesus made to Matthew, that he now makes to Kit, to stand up and follow him: a call that means nothing less than to become like Jesus Christ, which is what the other word for baptism, Christening, really means. Becoming Christ-like.
Like Matthew’s conversion, it might not look like all that much to us: a splash of water, a slick of oil. But, like Matthew’s conversion, hidden in these simple acts is the same incredible transformation.
Like Matthew, Kit will bind himself to Jesus’ death and resurrection: this is symbolised for us in the ‘drowning’ in the waters of baptism in the font, which is the symbol of Christ’s tomb. It is, like Matthew, a manner of putting to death the way of human life that we see all around the world at the moment: the ways of greed, exploitation, selfishness and division. Kit’s parents and godparents, on his behalf, will make a commitment to leave these low ways behind.
And like Matthew, Kit will bind himself to Jesus’ resurrection: to a new way of life; a higher, divine way of living in love, and peace, and hope. And we pray that he will want to follow Jesus – to think and speak and do as Jesus did: to become like Jesus.
And of course as we are witnesses to these wonderful things today, it is an opportunity for us to consider our own baptism: our own ‘Christening,’ which is not just something that happened once when we were babies, but is the ongoing journey of a lifetime towards becoming Christ-like.
How are we responding to Jesus’ call to follow him? Are we thinking and speaking and doing as Jesus did? Are we becoming like him in our homes and our church and our community?
Who do we know who is in that low place where Jesus found Matthew? Whose life is diminished by the low ways that we promised to put to death at our own baptism? Who needs to hear that call to stand up – that invitation to enter into the higher, wonderful life of the resurrection?
Matthew was empowered to become like Jesus as he walked in his presence, as he experienced the transformation that comes from an encounter with him. And we are empowered in the same way, in our encounter with Jesus in this sacrament of holy baptism, and in the sacrament of the Eucharist – the gift of Christ’s very presence within us.