Ezekiel 2:8-3:11; Ephesians 4:7-16; St Matthew 9:9-13
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The other Evangelists call him Levi. Named for that priestly tribe of Israelites who were commissioned by the Lord our God to care for the Tabernacle and its accouterments. They were set apart among this nation of priests to belong to the Lord. Taken instead for the requirement of the firstborn. They alone were to handle the holy things. The Ark, the Altar, the Menorah. They alone were commanded to set up the Tabernacle and take it down.
And set apart for this holy work the Tribe of Levi received no portion of inheritance among the tribes. No land allotted to them. The Lord was their inheritance. To them the Lord gave every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service in the tent of meeting (Nu 18:20-21).
But this Levite exchanged his inheritance for mammon. Worse than his birthright for a bowl of porridge, this Israelite rejected the Lord, his inheritance, and traded Him for an idol. Rather than set up the Tabernacle, Matthew, called Levi, set up his tax booth. Rather than handle the Holy Things of the Lord, Levi grabbed his hands onto the wealth of his brothers. Rather than receive his inheritance of the Lord through the generosity and gifts of his people, Levi took more than his fair share from them by force. He was a thief, a crook, a traitor.
Scripture knows many thieves. There’s Adam, the “Thief in the Garden,” who swiped the forbidden fruit. There’s King David, the “Thief on the Rooftop,” who caught a glimpse of the wife of one of his loyal soldiers and took her into bed with him. There’s Zacchaeus, the “Thief in the Tree,” and of course the unnamed, “Thief on the Cross.”
Today you meet another - St Matthew, the “Thief in the Chair.” That’s where Jesus found him, sitting in the tax booth, wealthy from collecting way more than he should have. Levi the Tax Collector, who sat there in darkness and the shadow of death, ripping of his countrymen. This worker who in disobedience and unfaithfulness, hurt many by stealing, negligence, waste, and perhaps even bodily harm.
What about you? Where do you sit? What have you stolen? Is your heart inclined to the testimonies of the Lord? Or to selfish gain? Do your eyes gaze upon worthless things? What unholy things have your handles handled and done? Like Levi we’ve exchanged our inheritance from the Lord for mammon. We’ve taken part of the life that God has given us and said, “That’s mine. Here, with this part, I can be as discontent and materialist as a pagan.” We’re supposed to own our possessions, but they possess us. We’re lovers of money, not lovers of God. Like Matthew, we are all thieves sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.
It is precisely into this world of thieves that Jesus has come. The One who saw Matthew sitting there at the tax booth, has seen you sitting there. The Savior of thieves has come to us. To us who try to find our life in collecting and grabbing and taking, the Savior has come, giving out salvation. For free! Satan, that Arch Thief and First Murderer, came with his lies, thieving you to himself, enticing you with that which glitters, filling your minds and your bellies with the rotten stink of his deceptions. It has made you sick. Sick with guilt and shame. Sick with a calloused conscience and stubborn heart. What fruit are you getting from the things of which you are ashamed? The end of those things is death (Rm 6:21).
But Jesus Christ has come to give life! He has come to snatch you from the jaws of Satan, feed you with the wholesome food of His comforting Word, transform you by the renewal of your mind, and heal your sin-sickness by the medicine of His Absolution. For as it states earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, The people dwelling in darkness have seen a Great Light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a Light has dawned (Mt 4:15-16).
For God so loved this world of thieves that He send His innocent Son into the world to become One. Jesus, who eats with tax collectors and sinners, so identifies with this world of thieves that He became One in order to save it. Jesus too became the “Thief in the Garden,” the Garden of Gethsemane, where with blood and sweat and prayer He prepared Himself to take the cup of the Father’s wrath from your lips and drink it down Himself.
Jesus too became the “Thief on the Rooftop,” the top of the Temple, where Satan took Him to tempt Him with the sights below. But while David said, “Yes,” Christ Jesus said, “No.” For Jesus came to ransom you from Satan’s kingdom.
Jesus too is a “Thief on the Cross,” for He is there swiping away our sin, our greed, our mistrust, our discontent, our anger and resentment and lies, and saying, “These belong to Me now.” And then He dies for them.
For He redeemed you, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.
For Jesus is the Good Thief, raised from the dead on the Third Day and is not seated at the Right Hand of God. From thence He will come again like a thief in the right on the Last Day, bringing along for you the gift of a new heaven and a new earth.
Matthew means, “Gift of God.” But without Jesus he could never have fulfilled his name. Without Jesus he was a thief, a crook, a traitor. But called by Jesus for the work of the ministry, equipped by Him to be an evangelist, shepherd and teacher, he became God’s gift to the world. No longer taking, but giving. No longer sitting there recording numbers on a sheet, but using that pen and ink to write the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest Gift the world has ever been given. No longer finding his life in money, but finding his life in the preaching of the Gospel, that splendid Light that drives away the darkness, which builds up the body of Christ.
For you are a gift too. Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife or worker? Then you are a gift from God to those at home and at work. Wherever God has placed you in life. For He desires mercy and sacrifice. And He is both. He is the Merciful Sacrifice on your behalf, by which He calls you to Himself, that you may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him by serving others in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.
He’s saying to those around you, “Here’s a gift.” But without Jesus you are no gift. Without Jesus you are only a taker, only a grabber, a thief, living only for yourself. But in and with Jesus, thieves become generous givers. Just as Zacchaeus. In and with Jesus, people who by nature say, “That’s mine. I want that,” say instead, “What’s mine is yours.” He leads you in the path of His commandments and you delight in them (Ps 119:35). For in and with Jesus, stubborn grudge bearers become what God desires, merciful, sacrificial, forgiving saints.
Would you be strengthened in faith toward God and in fervent love toward your neighbor? Then come, follow Christ. For your Divine Physician still eats with tax collectors and sinners. Here He beckons to Table those who are desperately sick and know it. Those who are thieves and know it. He comes to you, “Thieves in the Pew,” and He heals you with the Medicine of Immortality - His own Body and Blood given into death, resurrected, ascended, glorified, now given to you - as the Cure. Here is your Tabernacle and Holy Things. Here is your Lord. Here is your Inheritance.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The other Evangelists call him Levi. Named for that priestly tribe of Israelites who were commissioned by the Lord our God to care for the Tabernacle and its accouterments. They were set apart among this nation of priests to belong to the Lord. Taken instead for the requirement of the firstborn. They alone were to handle the holy things. The Ark, the Altar, the Menorah. They alone were commanded to set up the Tabernacle and take it down.
And set apart for this holy work the Tribe of Levi received no portion of inheritance among the tribes. No land allotted to them. The Lord was their inheritance. To them the Lord gave every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service in the tent of meeting (Nu 18:20-21).
But this Levite exchanged his inheritance for mammon. Worse than his birthright for a bowl of porridge, this Israelite rejected the Lord, his inheritance, and traded Him for an idol. Rather than set up the Tabernacle, Matthew, called Levi, set up his tax booth. Rather than handle the Holy Things of the Lord, Levi grabbed his hands onto the wealth of his brothers. Rather than receive his inheritance of the Lord through the generosity and gifts of his people, Levi took more than his fair share from them by force. He was a thief, a crook, a traitor.
Scripture knows many thieves. There’s Adam, the “Thief in the Garden,” who swiped the forbidden fruit. There’s King David, the “Thief on the Rooftop,” who caught a glimpse of the wife of one of his loyal soldiers and took her into bed with him. There’s Zacchaeus, the “Thief in the Tree,” and of course the unnamed, “Thief on the Cross.”
Today you meet another - St Matthew, the “Thief in the Chair.” That’s where Jesus found him, sitting in the tax booth, wealthy from collecting way more than he should have. Levi the Tax Collector, who sat there in darkness and the shadow of death, ripping of his countrymen. This worker who in disobedience and unfaithfulness, hurt many by stealing, negligence, waste, and perhaps even bodily harm.
What about you? Where do you sit? What have you stolen? Is your heart inclined to the testimonies of the Lord? Or to selfish gain? Do your eyes gaze upon worthless things? What unholy things have your handles handled and done? Like Levi we’ve exchanged our inheritance from the Lord for mammon. We’ve taken part of the life that God has given us and said, “That’s mine. Here, with this part, I can be as discontent and materialist as a pagan.” We’re supposed to own our possessions, but they possess us. We’re lovers of money, not lovers of God. Like Matthew, we are all thieves sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.
It is precisely into this world of thieves that Jesus has come. The One who saw Matthew sitting there at the tax booth, has seen you sitting there. The Savior of thieves has come to us. To us who try to find our life in collecting and grabbing and taking, the Savior has come, giving out salvation. For free! Satan, that Arch Thief and First Murderer, came with his lies, thieving you to himself, enticing you with that which glitters, filling your minds and your bellies with the rotten stink of his deceptions. It has made you sick. Sick with guilt and shame. Sick with a calloused conscience and stubborn heart. What fruit are you getting from the things of which you are ashamed? The end of those things is death (Rm 6:21).
But Jesus Christ has come to give life! He has come to snatch you from the jaws of Satan, feed you with the wholesome food of His comforting Word, transform you by the renewal of your mind, and heal your sin-sickness by the medicine of His Absolution. For as it states earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, The people dwelling in darkness have seen a Great Light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a Light has dawned (Mt 4:15-16).
For God so loved this world of thieves that He send His innocent Son into the world to become One. Jesus, who eats with tax collectors and sinners, so identifies with this world of thieves that He became One in order to save it. Jesus too became the “Thief in the Garden,” the Garden of Gethsemane, where with blood and sweat and prayer He prepared Himself to take the cup of the Father’s wrath from your lips and drink it down Himself.
Jesus too became the “Thief on the Rooftop,” the top of the Temple, where Satan took Him to tempt Him with the sights below. But while David said, “Yes,” Christ Jesus said, “No.” For Jesus came to ransom you from Satan’s kingdom.
Jesus too is a “Thief on the Cross,” for He is there swiping away our sin, our greed, our mistrust, our discontent, our anger and resentment and lies, and saying, “These belong to Me now.” And then He dies for them.
For He redeemed you, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.
For Jesus is the Good Thief, raised from the dead on the Third Day and is not seated at the Right Hand of God. From thence He will come again like a thief in the right on the Last Day, bringing along for you the gift of a new heaven and a new earth.
Matthew means, “Gift of God.” But without Jesus he could never have fulfilled his name. Without Jesus he was a thief, a crook, a traitor. But called by Jesus for the work of the ministry, equipped by Him to be an evangelist, shepherd and teacher, he became God’s gift to the world. No longer taking, but giving. No longer sitting there recording numbers on a sheet, but using that pen and ink to write the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest Gift the world has ever been given. No longer finding his life in money, but finding his life in the preaching of the Gospel, that splendid Light that drives away the darkness, which builds up the body of Christ.
For you are a gift too. Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife or worker? Then you are a gift from God to those at home and at work. Wherever God has placed you in life. For He desires mercy and sacrifice. And He is both. He is the Merciful Sacrifice on your behalf, by which He calls you to Himself, that you may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him by serving others in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.
He’s saying to those around you, “Here’s a gift.” But without Jesus you are no gift. Without Jesus you are only a taker, only a grabber, a thief, living only for yourself. But in and with Jesus, thieves become generous givers. Just as Zacchaeus. In and with Jesus, people who by nature say, “That’s mine. I want that,” say instead, “What’s mine is yours.” He leads you in the path of His commandments and you delight in them (Ps 119:35). For in and with Jesus, stubborn grudge bearers become what God desires, merciful, sacrificial, forgiving saints.
Would you be strengthened in faith toward God and in fervent love toward your neighbor? Then come, follow Christ. For your Divine Physician still eats with tax collectors and sinners. Here He beckons to Table those who are desperately sick and know it. Those who are thieves and know it. He comes to you, “Thieves in the Pew,” and He heals you with the Medicine of Immortality - His own Body and Blood given into death, resurrected, ascended, glorified, now given to you - as the Cure. Here is your Tabernacle and Holy Things. Here is your Lord. Here is your Inheritance.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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