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Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
Matthew 9:9–13
“He saw a man sitting at the tax booth.”
That man was Matthew.
He was not in the temple.
He was not praying.
He was not doing something noble.
He was sitting at the tax booth.
For many people, that place meant compromise, greed, betrayal, and sin. A tax collector worked inside a system that wounded his own people.
And yet Jesus saw him.
Not only his past.
Not only his work.
Not only his sin.
He saw the man and said:
“Follow me.”
Matthew got up and followed Him.
This call comes shortly after Jesus healed the paralytic and declared that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Now Jesus shows that authority in another way.
He does not only forgive sin.
He calls the sinner.
He does not only remove guilt.
He gives a new life.
He turns a tax collector into an apostle and evangelist.
This is the first good news of today’s feast: no one is trapped forever at the tax booth.
If Matthew can become an apostle, then mercy has not finished its work in any of us.
After Matthew is called, the scene moves to a table.
Jesus sits at table with tax collectors and sinners.
This is a powerful image of the Church.
The Church is not a gathering of people who were always healthy, always pure, always correct, and always strong.
The Church is a table of mercy.
It is a place where sinners are called, healed, forgiven, and slowly changed by Christ.
But not everyone joins this table.
The Pharisees ask:
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus answers:
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.”
This answer exposes the heart.
The real danger is not only sin.
The real danger is thinking that I am not sick.
The tax collectors and sinners knew their need.
The “righteous” did not.
They could see the sickness of others, but not their own.
That is why Jesus says:
“I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
These words are not meant only for obvious sinners.
They are also meant for those who hide behind religious respectability and forget mercy.
Then Jesus says:
“Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
Jesus eats with sinners because He came to save them.
He eats with sinners because He loves them.
He eats with sinners because He wants them to rise and follow Him.
Today we can ask ourselves:
Where is my tax booth?
Where am I still sitting, as if change were impossible?
With whom am I not willing to sit at the table?
And do I know my own need for the Physician?
Matthew heard one sentence:
“Follow me.”
And he got up.
The Pharisees heard another sentence:
“Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
Years later, one of them learned what Hosea meant and joined the table of tax collectors and sinners.
He came to be known as Paul. And later he wrote:
“The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost” (1 Tim 1:15).
Saint Matthew, pray for us, that we can also leave our booths and follow Christ, and learn the meaning of the words: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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© 2025 Krakus.
Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
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