Matthew and Mercy – Br. Luke Ditewig
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Br. Luke Ditewig
Saint Matthew the Apostle
Jesus selected a small group to teach and transform, an unusual assortment including uneducated fishers, among whom Matthew was a striking choice. As a tax collector working for the occupying Roman Empire, Matthew was considered a traitor, an outcast from the Jewish community.
Especially in Jesus’ day, eating together was a sign of acceptance and belonging. Companion literally means sharing bread. The Pharisees asked Jesus’ disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them directly: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’” (Matthew 9:11-13; Hosea 6:6). Doctors serve the sick. They don’t stay away from the one in need. Jesus said: I came for those who need me, so I do not distance myself from them.
Much of the Old Testament, with its holiness code and history, does seem to invite distancing from foreign people, their practices, and their gods. Biblical scholar Dale Bruner notes that by quoting Hosea, Jesus lifts up a “deeper truth.”1 Rather than primarily “demanding,” moving away and separate from people, God is “gracious,” moving toward and for people.2 How we treat one another is more important than religious ritual. Honoring humanity honors God. Care for the sick. Welcome the stranger. Love and forgive. Don’t condemn. Be kind.
Religious folk were upset, clinging to judgment, assuming barriers. We also get caught being self-confident, serious, and secure, busy doing good works, maintaining religious ritual. For the group and for Matthew, that he was a member and became an influential writer shows Jesus’ mission is mercy – healing unearned rather freely given. How hard it must have been for them – and how hard it is for us – to include and to be included: to include those who hurt us, by whom we feel betrayed; to be included by ones we have hurt, who hurt us, whom we see as other.
Physicians give medicine, and they instruct us how to live, how to engage our healing. Sometimes Jesus healed immediately by touch. Jesus also healed and formed over a long time, teaching and living especially with that small group of disciples. Like a doctor, Jesus models living ways to heal. As students and followers in need, here are three invitations from Jesus’ example: look, honor, and receive.
Look widely. Pay attention, both to those near and close to you – to family, colleagues, and neighbors – and also look to the periphery: acknowledge the outcast, see the invisible person, stranger, enemy. For all you see, ask: What do they need? What do they seek?
Honor mystery. Treat each person with respect. Acknowledge and work to let go of your assumptions. We Brothers cultivate honor with the gift of silence as well as our words and actions. As we say in our Rule of Life: “… we honor the mystery present in the hearts of our brothers and sisters, strangers and enemies. Only God knows them as they truly are and in silence we learn to let go of the curiosity, presumption and condemnation which pretends to penetrate the mystery of their hearts.”3 Pray for people you see. Honor their mystery in silence and in word. Acknowledge, honor, and help.
Receive wisdom. What do others have to teach you? Diversity, including fishers alongside tax collectors, challenges and strengthens. Tension and friction are inevitable, especially with companions we didn’t choose, and this is a gift.4 We help each other grow. Strangers, enemies, family, and colleagues teach about giving and receiving mercy.
Matthew was changed by this deep love. Like Matthew, we follow Jesus by loving others. Look widely. Honor mystery. Receive wisdom. Learn mercy.
- Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: Volume 1, The Christbook (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1987), 336. ↩
- Bruner, Matthew, 336. ↩
- Society of Saint John the Evangelist, Rule of Life, chapter 27, “Silence.” ↩
- Society of Saint John the Evangelist, Rule of Life, chapter 5, “The Challenges of Life in Community.” ↩