Thomas Griffin 9/21/24
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One moment changed his life.
St. Matthew was simply sitting at his desk, collecting taxes. He was sitting where he sat so many times before, and yet, this day would determine the trajectory of the rest of his life.
Jesus looked at him and said two words: “Follow me” (Matthew 9:9). That was enough for Matthew to leave behind everything he ever knew for a journey of radically following Christ, this stranger that he just encountered.
A fact that is often overlooked regarding the calling of Matthew has to do with the details prior to his invitation to follow Jesus. Directly before this calling there is a healing story. Jesus walks by a paralyzed man and tells him that his sins are forgiven. Some Jewish hierarchy overhears this and they are enraged about Christ’s blasphemy.
Jesus knew what they were thinking so he tells the paralyzed man, “Rise, pick up your stretcher and go home” (Matthew 9:6). The man does so immediately and the crowd is amazed. Directly following this miracle, we are told, “as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew…” (Matthew 9:9).
Since Matthew is the one writing this account it is very possible that he is alluding to the fact that he saw Jesus heal this paralyzed man. Matthew might have sat at that desk staring at that paralyzed man for months or even years. Then, one day, Jesus comes along with the audacity to forgive his sins and the power to showcase his ability to do so by making a lame man walk again.
Matthew would have seen the way that Jesus looked at this man as he knelt down to speak to him. Matthew would have seen Jesus look at him in the same exact way. In an instant, Matthew makes the decision that this man is worth leaving everything for. He saw Jesus do the impossible and he desired for Christ to work that same power in his own heart and life.
If you are like me, the radical decision that Matthew made can make you feel a bit intimidated. How does someone make such a choice that is so life altering? How does someone have the guts to leave behind former ways that are comfortable for the life of unknown possibilities?
Matthew was able to see a real life miracle performed by Jesus on earth. While that sounds like it would be impossible to gravitate towards, we know that so many still ignored him or plotted to kill him despite his many miracles. In order for us to give everything over to God, we must be like Matthew. We must be open to seeing the wonders that God is doing right in front of our lives.
A simple way to come to a better understanding of this is to reflect each day on the things and people in our lives that we are most thankful for. This simple activity makes us aware of how God is acting in our lives for the better. We can also reflect on our own versions of the “paralyzed man” miracle by calling to mind the most powerful God-moments of our lives. When did we know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that God was real and that he was with us powerfully.
Maybe it was on our wedding day or on the day our child was born. Maybe it was a challenging moment of suffering when someone else stepped in and revealed God’s love to us in a way that we had never experienced before. These are all moments when we are being primed to hand over our entire lives to Jesus Christ just like Matthew did.
If we could get inside of the mind of St. Matthew I think he would say that we must trust the encounters we have with Jesus. Meeting him as a real living person through prayer and especially in the Eucharist is a way for us to see Jesus single us out and invite us to follow him on the epic journey of faith that he has in store for us.
Today, let us ask St. Matthew for the grace to get up from our post and radically follow Christ – the One that meets us in the ordinary but calls us to the extraordinary life of discipleship.
Thomas Griffin is the chairperson of the religion department at a Catholic high school on Long Island where he lives with his wife and two sons. He has a masters degree in theology and is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Empty Tomb Project: The Magazine. He is the author of Let Us Begin: Saint Francis’s Way of Becoming Like Christ and Renewing the World.
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