Sweet Bitterness

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today, the Church remembers and gives thanks for the life and work of St. Matthew, as is right and salutary. We rejoice to remember those who have gone before us in the Faith, remembering their example of godly living and joining in their steadfast confession of the Faith once given to them, now delivered to us. St. Matthew now resides among the great cloud of witnesses, in whose midst we we one day stand as well.

So who was St. Matthew? The Gospels tell us that he was also called Levi. Scholars reckon that this is simply a case of a guy having a Hebrew or Aramaic name, and also a Greek or Latin name. Simon is Cephas is Peter. Saul is Paul. And so on; it was a common occurrence in the ancient Near East.

That Matthew is called Levi indicates that he was a Jew. Which fact makes it such an indictment of his character that he worked as a tax collector. Often we are told to think all sorts of hateful things about tax collectors. They are cheats, crooks, swindlers. They are out to steal from everyone who crosses their desks. They take delight in putting the screws to the little guy. Such is the case with Zacchaeus. He was all these things, and freely admitted it, and made it right when our Lord called him to faith. However, about Levi we have no such record. Following the Eighth Commandment, we ought simply to think that he did his job within the constraints of the laws of Rome. As far as we know, Levi was an honest tax collector.

+ The Feast of St. Matthew +

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today we take the opportunity to remember the author of the first book of the New Testament. St. Matthew, also known as Levi, identifies himself as a former tax collector, one who was therefore considered unclean, a public sinner, outcast from the Jews. And yet, our Lord saw fit to call him from his tax collector's booth and make him to be an apostle and evangelist. St. Matthew's “book of the genesis of Jesus Christ” portrays Christ especially as the new and greater Moses, who graciously fulfills the Law and the Prophets, and establishes a new covenant in and with His own blood.

Matthew's Gospel is also well-known and beloved for his record of the visit of the Magi, for the Sermon on the Mount, including the Beatitudes and the fullest text of the Lord's Prayer (as we will pray it momentarily); and for the institution of Holy Baptism and the most explicit revelation of the Holy Trinity.

Tradition is uncertain where St. Matthew's final field of labor was, or whether he died naturally or was martyred – he may have been burned, stoned, or beheaded – but he died confessing the faith, and left behind his Gospel account, which continues to shape the Church to this day. In celebrating his feast day today, we therefore give thanks to God that He has mightily governed and protected His Holy Church through this man who was called and sent by Christ to serve the sheep of His pastures with the Holy Gospel.