{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Homily - Mercy, Not Sacrifice: Christ's Pastoral Method in the Calling of Matthew","description":"In this episode, Fr. Anthony reflects on Christ\u2019s call of St. Matthew as a revelation of the Lord\u2019s pastoral wisdom, patience, and mercy. Drawing on St. John Chrysostom, he shows how Christ approaches each person at the moment they are most able to receive Him, gently leading sinners to repentance while shielding the weak from the self-righteous. The homily invites us to imitate this divine pedagogy\u2014offering mercy before rebuke, healing before judgment, and a way of life that draws others to the knowledge of God. +++ Mercy, Not Sacrifice: Christ\u2019s Pastoral Method in the Calling of Matthew St. Matthew 9:9-13 At that time, as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and He said to him, \u201cFollow Me.\u201d And he rose and followed Him. And as He sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, \u201cWhy does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?\u201d But when Jesus heard it, He said, \u201cThose who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, \u2018I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.\u2019 For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.\u201d  When looking at this encounter, it is important to know the context.  Jesus had been at this for a while.  He had already called at least four of the twelve; Andrew, Peter, James and John, to be his disciples.  Moreover, in addition to them, many others were following him.  He had already been baptized, been tempted, given the Sermon on the Mount and performed several public miracles. Knowing this allows us to better appreciate Christ, how He operates, and therefore how we might better imitate Him as we claim to operate in + His name. Example One: Calling the disciples Let\u2019s go back to His calling the disciples.  Why didn\u2019t He call Matthew at the same time He called Andrew, Peter, James, and John?  St. John Chrysostom indicates that it was Christ\u2019s pastoral heart that determined when we called each of His disciples.  Remember, as the Logos, He shares the Father\u2019s will that \u201call be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.\u201d (1 Timothy 2:4).  This means that He addressed people in the time and manner they were most likely to hear.  St. John Chrysostom points out that Matthew\u2019s heart was not open to Christ\u2019s call at the same time as Andrew, Peter, James, and John.  It took miracles and profound teaching to soften His heart for the encounter.  And He didn\u2019t just do this for Matthew, look how long it took for the Apostle Paul!  And perhaps, we can look at long he waited for us! We should learn from this lesson from Christ\u2019s earthly ministry and imitate Him.  We may need to live among some people for a while, showing the miracle of God\u2019s love working in and through us in the way we act and the things we say, before they are ready to accept an invitation to join us in The Way that heals and perfects.  Many of us jump the gun; skipping the vital step of living a public life of miraculous love \u2013 and then are surprised when the call to \u201cfollow Christ\u201d goes unheeded.  Yes, there are times when the modern equivalents of scribes and pharisees need to be confronted, but once again, let\u2019s imitate Christ and let them out themselves when they question our motives and sanity for performing acts of sacrificial compassion.  If we skip the step of imitating Christ in His love for mankind, not only won\u2019t we win converts, we may also be indicating that we aren\u2019t really working in His Name at all.   Example Two: Leaving, not owning the opposition Speaking of which, Christ also demonstrates his pastoral care at the very beginning of today\u2019s lesson.  You may remember that today\u2019s lesson begins with something that seems to be a throwaway line; a transitional clause that lets the reader know that the narrative is moving on to another scene.  St. Matthew writes; \u201cAt that time, as Jesus passed on from there,\u2026\u201d and then segues into this lesson about how Christ called him, the author, to be His disciple.  But what did He leave and why?  What did He \u201cpass on\u201d from in the previous scene? Let me share that with you; just prior to this, Jesus had publicly corrected some scribes - leaders in the Jewish community - by healing a man of his paralysis after they doubted His ability to forgive sins.  Do you see how they out themselves as fools?  But Christ doesn\u2019t want them to remain in ignorance.  He desires that they, too, be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth \u2026  but He also knew that they were not ready to accept the truth, so He left before they could double down on their sin and thus become even less likely to change their way of thinking and eventually answer His call to discipleship. As St. John Christostom puts it; For when He had performed the miracle, He did not remain, lest, being in sight, He should kindle their jealousy the more; but He indulges them by retiring, and soothing their passion. This then let us also do, not encountering them that are plotting against us; let us rather soothe their wound, giving way and relaxing their vehemence. Jesus could have owned those scribes!   This is what our polarized and self-indulgent culture seems to require of us: to immediately jump on any perceived weakness to show the superiority of our way.  We even manufacture offenses so that we have an opportunity to score points and play to the crowd.  But that\u2019s not what Jesus did; there was a real offense and a real weakness \u2013 but He didn\u2019t want or need to impress anyone.  Again, his desire is that of His Father; that all be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth.  And so He forbeared and gave them an opportunity to cool off and repent while He moved off to spend time with someone who was ready to hear Him. These are the kinds of lessons that are obvious to those who have \u201ceyes to see and ears to hear,\u201d but for the rest of us, it takes time.  As we have discussed previously, we still see the Gospel \u201cthrough a glass darkly\u201d and only see reality as \u201ctrees walking.\u201d  But we want to learn, and so we ask those who have made this journey successfully before us, men like the Holy Apostle and Evanglist Matthew, whose memory we celebrate today and St. John Chrysostom who shares the deeper Truths that St. Matthew shared \u2013 we ask them to guide and pray for us as go deeper into The Way. Let\u2019s see what more we can learn about Christ\u2019s approach to evangelism and pastoral care in today\u2019s lesson.  It is worth remembering that Matthew was a tax collector.  When Jesus gave him the invitation to \u201cfollow me\u201d, he responded with hospitality.  He opened his house to the Lord, his disciples, fellow tax collectors, and unspecified sinners.  Just to make sure everyone had a good time, this was all done within view of some local Pharisees.  The Pharisees spent their whole lives dedicated to righteousness (as should all of us).  I am perfectly willing to believe that they were sincere in their devotion to the Law.  In fact, it was probably their devotion to the Law that led to their revulsion at seeing an alleged rabbi (Jesus) eating with sinners.  They shared their righteous indignation with the Lord\u2019s disciples and He overheard them.  We can learn a lot about how to pastoral ministry by looking at Christ\u2019s response. First, He said (e.g. St. Mark 2:17); Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick do. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.  This is the most obvious point: God was explaining what His mission to these sinners (and the world) was:  He had come to bring them to repentance.  This would hardly satisfy any ultra-Orthodox takfirists \u2013 they always want their pound of flesh!  After all, they say, repentance requires tears, and the best way to bring someone to tears is not to eat with them and provide them a living example of the better way; no, surely it is more effective to beat them over the head with the Sin-Stick, right?!  Evidently not, at least according to the all-knowing and all-loving God-man Jesus Christ. After acknowledging the sinfulness of His dinner companions and their need for repentance, He corrected the Pharisees\u2019 dubious pedagogical and evangelical instincts with this (e.g. St. Matthew himself in 9:13); Go and learn what it means, \u2018I will have mercy, and not sacrifice\u2019: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Christ is quoting Hosea when He says; \u201cI will have mercy, and not sacrifice\u201d.  The full passage (which was implied) continues with (Hosea 6:6); \u201c\u2026 and [I desire] the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.\u201d  This is huge.  The Pharisees knew the full quote and its context; they would have seen that Christ was telling them that they were guilty of the very same sorts of things that went against God throughout the Old Testament.  He was telling them that they were more concerned with fulfilling the letter of the law (i.e. doing the \u201cburnt offerings\u201d well) than they were with knowing God or bringing others to Him.  At that meal, He was doing something that they should have been doing themselves. How Christ Discipled His Sinners cum Apostles More importantly, along with His entire response, Christ used this quote to describe His method for bringing the \u201cknowledge of God\u201d to sinners; He would use mercy to lead them to repentance, which would in turn allow them to grow in the knowledge of God.   St. John Chrysostom brings this point out at the end of his homily on this passage; What Christ is saying through his words and deads is this, \u201cThe disciples have not yet become strong; they still need a lot of condescension. They have not been renewed by the Spirit yet.  You really shouldn\u2019t put a lot of injunctions on people who are still weak.\u201d  And He said all these things in order to set laws and rules for His own disciples, so that when it was their turn to train disciples, they would deal with them very gently.  To reiterate St. John Chrysostom\u2019s point, God is showing His disciples how the Gospel is to be taught: gently and with mercy \u2026 while protecting the weak from the attacks of the self-righteous.  This is important for us as Christian leaders: we are called to follow Christ!  We are called to take His Gospel to sinners so that they might repent,  come to the knowledge of God, and be saved.  Keep the Sin-Stick ready, but use it the way Christ Himself did; to defend the weak from the attacks of the self-righteous. There is a temptation to bring sinners to a full awareness of their sin in order to drive them towards repentance, but be careful with this.   Psalm 129: 3-4 (which we often repeat as a prokimen so that we will master it \u2013 or rather so that it might master us);  If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee. And later in that same Psalm, we learn from the Psalmist, in the Spirt, what the purpose of this merciful forgivness is; so that He might bring salvation to Israel (129:8). Repentance, kenosis, and discernment are fostered over time.  It is an iterated and communal process.  The wounds this world inflicts on God\u2019s children are serious and it takes time for Him to heal them.  This means that you may not be able to see the process through to its conclusion, but it is okay to simply begin the treatment; the Church has trained other physicians that can continue the process, just as you will be called to continue the work others have begun.  As Christ said \u201cOne soweth, and another reapeth.\u201d (St. John 4:37:4) Conclusion Saint Matthew\u2019s life is a testimony to the efficacy of this gentle discipleship process.  He was a sinner.  The Lord protected Him and showed Him mercy.  Over time, through His example, His holiness, and His teachings, He brought Matthew through repentance to the true knowledge of God.  As a recipient of this grace, St. Matthew could do nothing else but offer it to others.   It is true that the Church is a hospital, and that Christ is the Great Physician; and it is also true that St. Matthew found healing in the Church under the Doctor\u2019s care.  But it is also true that He did not stay in the hospital bed. After a lifetime spent spreading the Gospel, this \u201cgood and faithful servant\u201d earned the martyr\u2019s crown in Ethiopia. May the Lord transform us into the kind of patient, merciful, and holy pastors who can do the same. ","author_name":"OrthoAnalytika","author_url":"http:\/\/orthoanalytika.libsyn.com","html":"