St Matthew

THE PUBLICAN IN ME

There is hope for you and me.

That is the message of the Feast of St Matthew, which we celebrate on 21 September.

Save for the call of Matthew and the inclusion of his name in the four lists of the Apostles, we know nothing else about St Matthew, except that he was a “publican”.

Now a publican was not somebody who owned a pub but rather somebody who dealt with the public money. In other words he was a Tax Collector – a sort of cross between a person who works for the Inland Revenue and the Customs.

That probably sounds remarkably boring, and you are probably wondering why the Gospel writers have singled out his occupation as being the most significant thing about Matthew and the reason why we should recall his life of discipleship. Let me try to explain.

The contracting out of public services to the private enterprise was not invented by Margaret Thatcher! It existed even in Roman times.

As you know, Palestine at the time of Christ was under Roman occupation. Because manpower was stretched to the limits, at the edge of the Roman Empire, it was necessary for them to devise a method of collecting taxes which was both cheap and efficient. This they achieved by auctioning the right to collect taxes on behalf of the Roman Government. If you like they went out to competitive tender.

The successful applicant was responsible to the Roman Government for an agreed amount each year. Anything that was raised over and above that agreed amount belonged to the agent as his commission.

Now when you bear in mind that few people could read and write, You realise there was widespread ignorance as regards the rate of taxation.

The system left itself wide open to abuse. Needless to say, many tax collectors grew exceedingly rich by overcharging the rate of tax and lining their pockets with any surplus sums they could raise.

In fact, this system had ceased to operate before the time of Christ. Nevertheless, people still remembered the abuse of the system which had prevailed for so many years.

Even the revised method of taxation was only marginally better than the former which was so open to abuse.

The Romans introduced three statutory taxes. First there was Ground Tax which was paid at the rate of 1/10th of grain and 1/5th of fruit and vine in either cash or kind. Secondly there was Income Tax at the rate of 1% of income. Finally there was the Poll Tax which was paid by every male from 14-65 years of age and every female from 12-65 years of age. This certainly had the desired effect of limiting abuse of the taxation system from individual gain.

However, there were still other taxes - rather like our Duty, which provided the opportunity to meet the shortfall on the part of the local tax collector. There was duty to be paid ranging from 2.5-12.5% on imports and exports. Tax was paid on travel on main roads, crossing bridges and entering market places, towns and harbours. There were also taxes on pack animals, on wheels and axles of carts. Then there was also a kind of purchase tax on goods which were bought and sold. All these taxes certainly provided an opportunity for abuse.

No wonder the evangelists single out Matthew’s occupation for our attention. He came from a section of society which was despised and rejected by the ordinary folk.

He was despised, because he came from a section of the community who had a reputation for abusing their office to their own advantage; a section of the community who worked for the occupying Roman forces and thereby enabled them to maintain the continued occupancy of Palestine; and a section of the community who were always open to bribery by the more affluent.

Little wonder that they were banned from the Jewish synagogue, which was the focus of the religious and social life of the community.

Yet it was to such a person that Jesus offered the invitation to come and follow him. It was such a person Jesus was prepared to be friends with and allow to become part of that intimate group who lived close to him.

No wonder this action caused the tongues of respectable Judaism to wag and for them to criticise his action. This was certainly not helped when Jesus went to a tax collector’s house - possibly Matthew’s - and had a meal with him and his friends.

To the adverse comments, Jesus replies that it is the sick who need the doctor, not those who are well. He had come to call on sinners and not righteous.

Now that is not to say that Jesus did not want the so-called “righteous” people, because in his eyes, they were equally as sinful as the tax gatherers and others whom society had rejected. However, as far as they were concerned, they were not sinful and therefore had no need of a saviour. They were well and not sick and so they rejected the offer of friendship from Jesus: Jesus did not reject them. His arms were for ever open wide to receive them and embrace them with his love, even on the cross, with his arms outstretched.

You can only help those who are willing to receive help, unless you are prepared to force your help upon them. And that is certainly not the way of God as revealed in Jesus. He never overrules a person’s free will.

But Matthew was willing to be helped. Matthew was only too well aware of his need of friendship, and so Matthew responded to the invitation of Jesus to come and follow him. So he left his job with the tax office and followed Jesus.

And Jesus continues to invite people to follow him. His arms are still outstretched to receive them. He invites us to come, sinful though we may be, to follow him. That is why I said at the beginning that the message of the Feast of St Matthew is that there is hope for you and me. We need not stew in our own juice of sinfulness. He accepts us just as we are and does not wait until we are saints, because we shall never become the person we are capable of becoming, save with the help of God.

What utter rubbish are those words “l am not good enough to go to church”.

The church is not a holiday camp for saints, but a hospital for sinners, of whom I am the greatest.