From the Tax Booth: Matthew for Young Men

What the Text Says

Jesus is walking along and sees a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. He says to him, “Follow me.” Matthew gets up and follows him (Mt 9:9). Later, Jesus is at dinner in Matthew’s house, and many tax collectors and sinners come and sit with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees ask why Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus answers, “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.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mt 9:10-13).

What the Church Teaches

Christ’s call to Matthew is not conditioned on Matthew cleaning up his reputation first. It is an invitation straight into the middle of his compromised work. The Catechism teaches, “Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom: ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’ He invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and deed his Father’s boundless mercy” (CCC 545). Matthew is called at his desk, not after an interview.

Matthew’s response is not a partial commitment. He leaves the entire life his tax booth represented. The Catechism teaches that “Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone,” and that “the precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of heaven” (CCC 2544). Matthew’s tax post was his livelihood and his security, and he leaves it the moment he is called, without negotiation.

Personal Reflection: For Young Men

(This section is pastoral application and personal takeaway, not a restatement of defined Church teaching. If you are wrestling with something specific in your own life, bring it to confession or a conversation with a priest rather than treating this reflection as a ruling.)

Matthew’s job made him wealthy but despised, a paid collaborator with the occupying power over his own people. When Christ calls him, he leaves the security of that income behind immediately, no negotiation, no severance package, no waiting to line up something else first. A young man weighing a path that promises money and status against a path that costs him something for the sake of following Christ faithfully is facing Matthew’s exact choice.

Notice, too, that Jesus does not need Matthew to clean up his reputation before calling him. He calls him in the middle of the very work that made him an outsider among his own people. It is precisely that outsider’s familiarity that lets Matthew bring a whole crowd of similarly marginalized men into contact with Christ at his own table afterward. Whatever has made you feel disqualified or looked down on does not have to be resolved before Christ can use it, or you.

Call to Action

This week, name one thing, a habit, a shortcut, a source of income or status, that following Christ more seriously would require you to leave behind, and take one concrete step toward actually leaving it, the way Matthew got up from the tax booth without negotiating terms first. If you have written yourself off as too compromised or too far gone for a serious faith, bring that specific belief to confession and test it against what Christ actually says to Matthew. Invite one friend who might feel like an outsider to the faith into some real contact with it this week, the way Matthew brought his own crowd to the table.

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Doctrinal note: Claims above are tied to CCC 545 and 2544. Translation used: RSV-CE. Please confirm any point you plan to teach publicly with a priest, deacon, or trusted catechist before publishing.