VALUE LOVE ABOVE SACRIFICE
Gospel Reading: Matthew 9:9-13

He said to him, 'Follow me.' Matthew got up and followed him. Now it happened that, while Jesus was at table in Matthew’s home, many tax collectors and those known as sinners came to join Jesus and his disciples at dinner ... 'It is mercy I desire and not sacrifice.' v. 9-10, 13

Jesus' call requires radical and immediate response, and a response that is livable. Peter and Andrew immediately left their nets and became his followers. Of James and John it is said that they also immediately abandoned boat and father to follow him.

Jesus called Matthew just like the rest; Matthew responded like the rest. But Matthew then threw a party for Jesus at his house! Apparently Jesus' call to apostolic poverty and holiness did not forbid Matthew from making use of his house and maintaining contact with his old friends.

LOVE SATISFIES THE DEMANDS OF THE GOSPEL

There is a time to radically break with one’s past. Paul said, "Those things I used to consider gain I have now reappraised as loss in the light of Christ," but he did not imply that we should break association with all non-Christians.

In the end, love will satisfy the radical demands of the gospel. Love calls us to poverty. Love calls us to holiness. Without love, poverty becomes an empty and life-draining curse. Without love, holiness degenerates into cold and heartless self-righteousness.

Paul asserted that: "If I speak with human tongues and angelic as well, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and, with full knowledge, comprehend all mysteries, if I have faith great enough to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give everything I have to feed the poor and hand over my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."

LET US LEARN THE WAYS OF LOVE

Is our Christianity radical or fanatical? A fanatic fulfills the radical externals of poverty and holiness but does so without love. Love softens the edge of razor-sharp issues and changes the cutting edge from a sword that kills and maims into a surgical knife that heals. It brings us to a balance between no-compromise and the leniency of wisdom.

Let us be radical, rather than fanatical, about the issues of poverty and moral purity. Let us learn the way of love.

John Michael Talbot

Photo St. Matthew by Lawrence OP