Hope in the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it. – Psalm 37:34
We are gathered together to praise God, that it pleased him to call Matthew from the work of collecting taxes, to an apostolic and evangelical ministry.

Matthew was a tax collector. He, a Jew, bid for something like a contract to collect taxes. So long as he paid the Romans the taxes he promised them, he could collect as much as he wanted from the people of Capernaum, enjoying the rest to his profit. He was collaborating with the imperial occupiers against his own people to his own reward. Tax collectors routinely would hire men to rough up those who they did not feel were paying enough. Think of “protection” in a gangland movie. This was Matthew’s life.

But Matthew was among those who heard of a man who was the Messiah expected, who called men to come and follow them, who turned water into wine, who said do not only abstain from adultery but also from lust, do not only abstain from murder but also from wrath, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Matthew heard also a message about wealth and about desire. We heard it today. Do not store up for yourselves treasures in earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Do not set your desire on this passing world and its power or its possessions or its relationships. They will all ultimately fade away. There is nothing steady and sure of earth. What are your feet standing on? Can it be destroyed? Will your hope be destroyed with it?

Store up for yourselves riches in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. The promises of God are not subject to the decay of sin. We are not trustworthy. Nature is not trustworthy. The Market is not trustworthy. Your heart is not trustworthy. Our God is faithful. Trust in his promises, trust in his person, trust in his leading, trust in eternity with him while all else fades around you. This includes you yourself and all your talents and worth. They will also decay away. Let go of you, and hold on by his power working in you to the one who is able to keep you from falling. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

Beware what you set before your eyes, what you hear, what you give your attention to. Just as desire will shape you so will attention. If what you see makes your light darkness, corrupts your eyes, you will not be able to see. Have charitable eyes, generous eyes, loving eyes, not stingy eyes. Have eyes filled with the image of God: frail and merciful. Can you see a person as something to be used and profited from and someone to be loved and served at the same time? You cannot have two masters Matthew, you cannot serve both God and money.

Of the crowds that followed him, Jesus chose Matthew, chose this man, and gave him an awesome responsibility. When Jesus fed the thousands Matthew passed out baskets, when Jesus calmed the sea Matthew trembled, when Jesus explained what the parables meant Matthew listened.

Jesus sent Matthew out, to proclaim repentance at the breaking forth of the Kingdom of Heaven. By Jesus’s authority working in him he cast out demons and healed dread diseases. But Matthew heard Thomas’s fear, that they were going at last to Jerusalem to die. When Jesus was arrested Matthew scattered and heard of the death of his Lord. Cowering in the upper room Matthew heard some women babble about the tomb being empty, and that evening he saw with his own eyes the glorious body of our risen Lord.

When Jesus was ascended into heaven Matthew shared in witnessing in Jerusalem to who he was and who he called us to be. He heard the witnesses of the other apostles, others that had encountered Jesus and he put together these witnesses with those collected by St. Paul’s helper St Mark into the Gospel of St Matthew. These stories have become a living word, a powerful concentrated vessel of the witness of the Apostles, and by it our Lord feeds us still.

Probably because Matthew was a tax collector the lectionary also gives us this reading from 1 Chronicles 29. King David is thanking God for the gifts that are given to help his son build the temple in due season. He is praising God who is worthy of every good gift he empowers us to give him. And this is where we get the words we say each time we pray the offertory. Blessed are you Lord God of Israel for ever and ever. All things come of you, and of your own have we given you. Thanks be to God for all Matthew offered for the building up of the church. May we follow his good example and use what is given us and the responsibility given to us for the glory of God and the building up of his people.

Hope in the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it. – Psalm 37:34