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      Scripture scholars are pretty sure that Matthew the apostle and Matthew the evangelist are not the same person, but the passage from the Gospel According to Matthew that is read on this feast brings the two together in one place.  Even if we owe a great deal to Matthew the evangelist for his gospel portrait of Jesus, especially the infancy narrative and the Sermon on the Mount, the one incident recounted today is enough to be grateful for.  Jesus calls Matthew (a/k/a "Levi") to be one of his closest associates.  As a tax collector, he would have been considered a very "unclean" person in the eyes of the Pharisees and scribes if only because he handled Roman coinage.  Since one of the major forms of social interaction at the time was in dining together, Jesus' presence at the table caused comment.  His reply to the comment is in bold print above: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.  The quote is from the Prophet Hosea.

     In his very fine study of American social individualism, HABITS OF THE HEART, Robert Bellah calls attention to the development of "lifestyle enclaves," of which gated communities are shown to be an example.  These enclaves are designed to keep away people who are not considered "our kind of people."  Another example from my own pastoral experience is the division of our own church into ideological and liturgical enclaves which stand in judgment on anyone who does not follow a prescribed set of gestures or rituals.  

     The Gospel According to Matthew reminds us that Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.  Spiritual or any other kind of elitism that excludes someone from God's mercy and our own should have no place in the church.  Its existence in any of our communities is a sign that the words of Jesus in today's passage from Matthew need to be heard and acted upon.  AMEN