The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew.
Polyeleos Feast. Nativity Fast.
1 Corinthians 4:9-16; Matthew 9:9-13.
Read Matthew 9:9-13
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Today, the second day of the Nativity Fast, we celebrate the feast of the apostle St. Matthew. The Gospel for today’s feast presents to us the call of St. Matthew and the response of the Pharisees to the Lord’s calling and dwelling with sinners.
The first thing we observe is that St. Matthew responds wholeheartedly and without hesitation to Christ’s invitation to follow Him. Matthew makes the decision to follow Jesus, and then Jesus follows Matthew into his home to share a meal. The Latin Father, Chromatius of Aquiliea wrote that “According to the allegorical or mystical account, Matthew’s house is his mind, which Christ entered through Matthew’s faith in his grace. [Christ] is viewed as having truly “sat at table” there, for this same Matthew deserved to be the writer of this Gospel. Describing the Lord’s deeds and power, he presented a heavenly feast not only to the Lord and his disciples but also to all believers who, coming as publicans and sinners to the knowledge of Christ, deserved being included in so great a feast” (Tractate on Matthew 45.5).
The Pharisees protested, Christ’s participation in Matthew’s meal, questioning why He would eat with ‘tax collectors and sinners’, But when [Jesus] heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
As we begin our fast this week, these words of our Lord are very important to keep in mind, for Christian fasting is therapeutic in nature. The idea is not to punish ourselves for our sins, but to heal our whole person. We are those who are sick, whom the Lord has come to visit. The meal he comes to share with us is the whole therapeutic program of the Church, the traditions of prayer, fasting, and above all the Holy Eucharist, the medicine of immortality. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us, “ The value of fasting consists not only in avoiding certain foods, but in giving up of sinful practices. The person who limits his fast only to abstaining from meat is the one who especially lowers the value of it…For a true fast, you cannot fast only with your mouth. You must fast with your eye, your ear, your feet, your hands, and all parts of your body. You fast with your hands by keeping them pure from doing greedy things. You fast with your feet by not going to see forbidden shows or plays. You fast with your eyes by not letting them look upon impure pictures.” (On Fasting)
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