Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist

 Lectionary: 643

As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, "Follow me."
And he got up and followed him.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat with Jesus and his disciples.

There is something comical about Jesus's selection of disciples; it's a comedy that persists in many ways to this day. This motley crew of men and women is neither competent to announce to the whole world the Gospel of Jesus Christ, nor worthy of it. 

But this is a divine comedy where God accomplishes the impossible, implausible, and improbable just to prove the power of our faith in God. As the Angel assured Mary, "All things are possible with God." And as he said, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed...."

The saints also testify, "With grace the most difficult chores are easily accomplished; but without grace, even the slightest task is beyond our ability." Which of us has never experienced that? 

Saint Paul said as much when he remarked about his companions and himself: "We are vessels of clay." The Lord knows we do the best we can, and if he decides to use earthen pots it's his own fault when we leak like sieves! 

The Apostle had reflected on that great mystery even in his first letter to the Corinthians.

Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.” (1:26-31)

But the LORD had set the pattern more than a thousand years before when he chose Abraham to be a blessing to all nations, and then led his descendants into Egyptian slavery. They were never a promising lot of heroes, even when they had built a minor kingdom under David and a modest capital city in Jerusalem. Those accomplishments were washed under history's tides as the empires of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Rome, and Islam spilled over them. They should have been entirely forgotten long ago but God had his own reasons for making them survive another generation, and then another. 

Our lives are God's story. They will be told on God's terms, to whom God speaks. In the meanwhile we thank God for the opportunity to be of some small, inept service.