“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him” (Matt. 9:9).
The call of the apostles together with their immediate and wholehearted response, leaving everything and following Jesus, is always an inspiration for us to do the same when Jesus Christ calls us. It is a radical call to leave all for Christ, and Matthew’s response is equally radical, “And he rose and followed him” (Matt. 9:9). According to St. Luke, “He left everything, and rose and followed him” (Luke 5:28). Simon, James, and John responded in an equally radical way after seeing the great catch of fish they made at the command of Jesus. “When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:11).
Leaving everything is a radical response. It changed Matthew’s whole life. He renounced his work, his means of livelihood, and the way he spent his time. His life completely changed. So it should also be with us. We too should change our whole life and lifestyle upon following Jesus Christ. After responding to the call of Jesus to be one of his disciples, we are no longer private individuals that can just wander around incognito wherever we want, doing whatever we want, with no one knowing who we are. Once we have been called by Christ, we are known as his disciples, we are marked men, and should live only for him from then on. Our whole life should be dedicated to him, not to ourselves, not to our own entertainment. We should renounce worldly pleasures and a worldly life and lifestyle, as St. Matthew renounced his impure work as a tax collector for the Romans.
Matthew now invites all his contacts, other tax collectors and sinners, in order to bring them to Jesus. In the future, he will be a preacher of the kingdom of God, poor like the other apostles who left their secular work to follow Jesus full-time.
And you, have you responded like this to the call of Jesus Christ? Have you given up a worldly lifestyle in order to live only for God and find all you joy only in him, giving up and renouncing a life of pleasure in the things here below? This is what Christ wants of you. He wants all of you. He expects a response from you as radical as that of the apostles. We have much to renounce—our freedom to wander about incognito in the world as private individuals, doing whatever we want, seeking the pleasures of life. Rather, we are to leave everything, rise, and follow him (Luke 5:28).
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