20220921 MERCY BRINGS GOOD OUT OF EVIL
21 September, 2022, Wednesday, St Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist
First reading |
Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13 © |
We are all to come to unity, fully mature in the knowledge of the Son of God
I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.
Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. To some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 18(19):2-5 © |
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God,
and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.
Day unto day takes up the story
and night unto night makes known the message.
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
No speech, no word, no voice is heard
yet their span extends through all the earth,
their words to the utmost bounds of the world.
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Te Deum |
Alleluia, alleluia!
We praise you, O God,
we acknowledge you to be the Lord.
The glorious company of the apostles praise you, O Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 9:9-13 © |
It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick
As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’
MERCY BRINGS GOOD OUT OF EVIL
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Eph 4:1-7, 11-13; Ps 18:2-5; Matt 9:9-13]
Today, when we celebrate the Feast of St Matthew, we celebrate the mercy of God in Christ, a mercy that gives hope to those who are deemed useless and hopeless in the eyes of the world. One can imagine how touched and moved St Matthew was to be called by the Lord to be His apostle. In the eyes of his contemporaries he was considered an outcast, a sinner, a traitor of the Jews and most of all, a swindler and cheat. As a tax collector, he was hated by the people. No one in his time would want to be associated with such a person, lest one gets contaminated ritually by mixing with him. Indeed, that was how the scribes and the Pharisees viewed him. It was unthinkable for a supposedly holy man like Jesus to be seen in his company. Hence, “when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?'”
What, then, is the answer to the question of Jesus fellowshipping with sinners and tax-collectors? The response of Jesus was swift and sharp. He said, “It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.” Jesus reckoned Himself as a doctor. The vocation of a doctor is to give life and to give hope to the sick. His task is to restore a person to health so that he can live again. In the same way, Jesus came to give hope to us all, especially those who consider themselves outside the ambit of God’s love and mercy. So, like all doctors, He came principally for the sick whilst keeping the strong healthy.
But how could He give life to those condemned as ‘outcasts’ by society? Again, like the doctor, Jesus needed to approach the sick directly and personally. What kind of doctor would He be if He were to stay away from the illness of the patients? It is the task of the doctor to attend to the patients directly and diagnose their illness. So if Jesus were to offer life to sinners, it was necessary for Him to go in their midst. If the scribes and Pharisees really had mercy for the sinners, they would not have stayed away from them. They showed their selfishness in wanting to save themselves rather than those who were in need of God. Indeed, we remember how many doctors and health professionals gave up their lives to save those infected by SARS many years ago when Singapore went through the terrifying epidemic in our history, and more recently, Covid-19. So, too, Jesus the divine physician came to be with the sinners in order that He might feel with them, hear them out and be the light of God’s mercy to them.
Secondly, a good doctor is one who always has hope of a cure. If a doctor begins his job with a sense of hopelessness, he would never be able to go far except to prepare a person for death. But a doctor, even though he is aware of his limitations, must also live with the hope of finding a cure. He would try all means possible to cure the patient. If the procedure cannot work or the medication is not effective, he would resort to other methods and medication till the patient recovers. This was the attitude of Jesus towards those who were incorrigible. The world thought that besides prostitutes, and tax collectors particularly had no hope in the eyes of God. They would surely be condemned to hell. But Jesus never saw sinners as people who had no hope. In fact, He saw in Matthew the ingredients of a good apostle-to-be. When we are merciful, we see the wicked person with hope and confidence; we see much goodness even in the difficult person whom the world has given up hope on. Jesus had the gift to see the goodness and the sincerity hidden in Matthew despite the shady trade he was engaged in.
Indeed, when we see the goodness in the apparently evil person, we will help the person to begin the process of healing. So when Jesus called Matthew, it was not a sudden response. We can be sure that Matthew would have heard about Jesus or even heard Him teaching. His heart was already opened, but he did not feel worthy to take another step. He deemed himself to be an outcast and was certain that he would be rejected. But lo and behold, Jesus read his heart, a heart that was filled with emptiness, loneliness and bereft of joy. This is true in daily life, especially with difficult colleagues or students who do not perform. We need the eyes of mercy to see the potential goodness and the hidden virtues in the person.
Thirdly, Jesus helped Matthew to find his true vocation in life. Only when we find our vocation can we truly live meaningfully in life. Those who live only for their career cannot find real happiness and meaning. Success is empty when what we do only brings in money but not life and love. Following Christ does not mean that we have to give up our career or what we like to do. Rather, it is more about changing the motives than changing our circumstances. Conversion is not about giving up one’s talents but rather to use them in the right way. Jesus therefore encouraged St Matthew, who was probably one of the few educated ones in His band, to use his knowledge and writing skills to proclaim the gospel. St Matthew did not have to give up all his knowledge and training but he could now use it for the service of the gospel. So with St Matthew, instead of having a career that was directed at enriching himself, he changed his career and sought a vocation. He now used his talents for the service of God and the gospel. A career is about advancing oneself but a vocation is always for the service of God and humanity. So from that day onwards, Matthew used all his resources for the glory of God.
Fourthly, a good doctor’s only desire is to help, to heal and to console. We must avoid following the negative attitude of the scribes and Pharisees. All they knew was to criticize Jesus and condemn the sinners. Instead of seeking a solution to bring them back to God, they stayed away from them. True doctors only think about how to help and relieve pain when they see their patients suffer. They do not stand around and lecture their patients for getting into trouble or falling sick. So when we see people suffering or someone who has made a mistake in life, we do not keep on scolding the person and putting that person down. Rather, our task is to lift them up through gentle correction, enlightenment and encouragement. We should seek to help and not to condemn those who are already down and out.
Finally, a good doctor of mercy not only has hope but will transform all obstacles into learning curves so as to be a better doctor. All good doctors see obstacles as opportunities for learning. There are many things we learn through trial and error. We all learn from mistakes. That is why in every hospital there must always be case studies to see how we can learn from mistakes and new experiments and initiatives. So too with Jesus; He saw Matthew as a great opportunity, not just to save, but to be put to use in reaching out to those whom He would have found difficult to reach. Being a convert and a former tax collector, Matthew was well placed to help Jesus make inroads with those who were ‘unreachable’. We can be sure that with Matthew’s conversion, many other tax collectors, seeing him living a much happier and liberated life, would have also have come to Jesus.
Today as we celebrate the feast of St Matthew, let us never give up hope on those who are difficult, those who seem to be failures in life and the ‘incorrigibles’. Before we write them off, let us remember that for Jesus, nothing is impossible. We must continue to hope that God will give them the grace to be touched by His word and be transformed. All of us are called to this same hope. “There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called.” To give up hope on them is to be lacking in mercy. Look at them with eyes of mercy and they will find hope in themselves.
Let us help others as St Paul urged us; to live a life worthy of our vocation. We are called to use our talents to help build up the Church and to build up the individual. “Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. … so that the saints together make a unit in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.” Let us follow the example of St Matthew and St Paul who gave up their lives for others after having been transformed, loved and forgiven by Christ. Let everything we do in life be done for the good of humanity and the glory of God.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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