St. Matthew and the Divine Physician
Saturday, January 18th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s Gospel, we hear of Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, much to the dismay of the Pharisees. Jesus replied to their queries by revealing Himself as the Divine Physician: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
St. Bede the Venerable wrote a beautiful reflection on this passage. He explained that while Christ did physically dine with tax collectors and sinners, as we hear in this historical account from today’s Gospel, there is also a spiritual meaning in this Gospel passage. St. Bede pointed out the paradox in Our Lord’s role as Divine Physician, for it is through His wounds that we ourselves are healed. This is why, according to St. Bede, Our Lord specifically called tax collectors and known sinners: He called those who had tried to find fulfillment and strength in their own endeavors but were still left unsatisfied and broken.
In today’s Gospel, St. Matthew responded without hesitation to Our Lord’s call to follow Him. St. Matthew immediately left his seat at the customs post, his accounts incomplete, perhaps left mid-calculation. Nothing mattered save to answer Christ’s call.
From our historical knowledge about the role of tax collectors at the time of Our Lord, we know that St. Matthew most likely made a living through dishonest means, cheating his neighbours in order to amass his own wealth. This life of sinfulness certainly left St. Matthew spiritually broken, yet he did not allow himself to wallow in his unworthiness. Instead, he immediately left everything, including the very means by which he lived, to follow Jesus.
In the Alleluia verse for today, the Church gives us the following prophecy from Isaias, which was fulfilled in Christ: “The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives” (Lk 4:18). St. Matthew is an example of a soul that was captive to sin. St. Matthew’s very way of life was rooted in sin, yet Jesus nonetheless called him to be one of His Twelve Apostles, the first bishops and priests of His Church. As my priest once said, God does not call the qualified; rather, He qualifies those He calls. The Apostles are among the first to bear witness to this, giving us hope for our own lives.
As the Divine Physician, Jesus came to proclaim liberty through repentance to those who are captive to sin. By His sacred wounds, we are healed of the spiritual wounds of sin and set free from the brokenness and death that sin causes in our souls. Once we acknowledge that we are broken and in need of healing, then can the loving Divine Physician enter and fill us with His healing grace through the sacraments.
We must not delay in responding to this grace, for we do not know how much time is granted to us. We must strive to respond immediately like St. Matthew, not wasting a single moment to enjoy our sinful pleasures one last time, for God is calling us and our former sinful ways no longer matter. May we always respond quickly to the gentle voice of the Divine Physician, turning to the Sacrament of Penance often so that He may heal our brokenness and sinfulness by the glory of His own wounds.
Beautiful reflection on today’s Gospel 🙏