Fr. Michael Williams

I remember many years ago I was lying on my bed and I felt disillusioned with the life that I had been living. On the outside it appeared very good. There were lots of parties, girls, drinks/drugs, friends; and there was enough money to fund this rather dissolute lifestyle. But on the inside I was unhappy and wondered where this lifestyle was leading me to.

In a moment of despondency I reached out for a bible that I kept in my bedside cabinet. I had been given this bible in secondary school, and I had kept it as some sort of memento or good luck charm: I certainly never read it. But for some reason I opened it randomly and my eyes were drawn to the passage we heave just heard from St. Matthew’s gospel. I read about Matthew the tax collector being called from the customs house to follow Jesus: “Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed Him”. But the part of the gospel passage which really struck me was the part where Jesus says, “It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick…And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners”.

I knew I was certainly a sinner, in need of the Divine Physician’s healing touch. From that moment I began to re-evaluate my life. And things began to change, as Christ gradually led me out of darkness and into light. Christ was calling me to live a life of grace, as opposed to a life of sin, just like He called Matthew to leave his double-dealing at the tax office, and become one of the great evangelists and the author of the first gospel.

St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy tells us that “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). We are all those sinners in varying degrees. Of course different people are affected by different sins. The Pharisees in today’s gospel were affected by the sin of self-righteousness. They were very good at looking at other people’s sins, but not their own. St. John tells us, “If we say, ‘we have no sin’, we are deceiving ourselves”. The only two people in the human race who are not sinners are Jesus, the Son of God, and His immaculate Mother Mary. The rest of us are in the same boat. The Divine Physician seeks to heal us all. Admittedly, some people only need some ointment and a plaster from the Divine Healer, whilst others need major surgery like an amputation or a transplant. Nevertheless, whatever our condition, we all need Jesus, “who was put to death for our sins”.

Admitting we need the Divine Doctor is the first condition for us to begin to be healed of our sinfulness. If we don’t admit we are sick, we’re on the road to hell, and heading for death. We need to make a decision to leave sinful habits behind and try to follow the One who invites us: “Follow me”. The Pharisees in the gospel thought they were very healthy and righteous, and so they were not open to the Lord. They were a bit like someone who has a serious illness, but is in denial. However, Matthew, and the other tax collectors and sinners, who had gathered around the Lord, knew they needed their lives saving by the One Saviour. Jesus could get to work on them once they had agreed to let Him change their lives. A doctor cannot work on a patient who thinks they are well and deceiving themselves.

When I read this gospel passage for the first time, many years ago, it was the start of Christ’s invitation for me to “Follow Him”, the Divine Healer. Each day we all have to renew that commitment to “Follow Him”; Each day we have to move from sin to grace; Each day we need God’s mercy; And each day we have to respond to His call.

Let’s pray that we will follow Matthew’s example in following the Lord. And let’s pray that Matthew, who became St. Matthew, will inspire us daily to draw closer to Christ, the only One who can heal.