In our post-modern age, the title of the day, “St Matthew Apostle and Evangelist”, begs the question, “Just what do we want to accomplish in leading worship on this day?” While the POD and Gospel relate to the calling of Matthew the Apostle, tradition and the day’s title tend to conflate Matthew the Apostle with Matthew the Evangelist. What can / should / will we do with this?

Collect / POD: Almighty God, your Son our Savior called a despised collector of taxes to become one of his apostles. Help us, like Matthew, to respond to the transforming call of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

[2.8] But you, mortal, hear what I say to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you. [9] I looked, and a hand was stretched out to me, and a written scroll was in it. [10] He spread it before me; it had writing on the front and on the back, and written on it were words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

[3:1] He said to me, O mortal, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. [2] So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. [3] He said to me, Mortal, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it; and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey.

[4] He said to me: Mortal, go to the house of Israel and speak my very words to them. [5] For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel-- [6] not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. [7] But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. [8] See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. [9] Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. [10] He said to me: Mortal, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears; [11] then go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them. Say to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD”; whether they hear or refuse to hear.

2.9-10 YHWH offers and Ezekiel takes & reads the scroll – lamentation, warning, and woe

Note that the only other Apostle or Evangelist’s day which has an OT lesson on the call of a prophet is St Andrew (November 30) who has Eze 3.16-21, the conclusion of Ezekiel’s call. This is especially interesting in that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Moses also had dramatic call narratives that one would think would be relevant for other saints.

“The word of the LORD came to the priest Ezekiel son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar.” (Eze 1.3) The river Chebar was probably a river or canal near Babylon where Ezekiel apparently was a priest ministering to Jewish deportees.. The time was in July / August of 593 BCE. after deportations to Babylon had begun but before the fall of Jerusalem and the Temple to the Babylonians in 586/7 BCE.

Ezekiel Exe 1.1 - 3.27	Isaiah of Jerusalem Isa 6.1-13	Jeremiah Jer 1.4-10	Moses Ex 3.1 - 4.17
Priest (1.3)	Serving in temple (6.2)	Priest (1.1)	Levite / proto-priest (2.1)
introductory vision; call per se, responsibility of prophet emphasized; silenced until time comes	vision, call, & charge integrated in one experience	7 verse call	extended bio of Moses previous to call; call is extended dialog with Moses & YHWH
told to eat and digest message; Ezekiel complies without question	objects that is unclean, so Seraph sent to purge Isaiah’s mouth with burning coal	objects that is too young to speak, so YHWH put words into Jeremiah’s mouth	objects to call 5 times: 3.11 Who am I to do this? 3.13 How should I introduce you? 4.1 What if no one listens? 4.10 I’m good at talking in front of people. 4.13 Send someone else!
told Israel will not listen	prophecy it self will keep people from listening	prophetic authority includes making &/o breaking nations	Israel will listen; Pharaoh will not

(Rather than call narratives, Elijah and the minor prophets have only 1 line introductions. Daniel and Jonah have extensive “call” narratives, but neither the protagonists nor the books are really in the “normal prophet” class.)

Ezekiel doesn’t object to his call, even though it is filled with “lamentation and mourning and woe” and was told Israel would not want to hear him; in fact he found the words “as sweet as honey”. Does this seem strange to you? Is he pious or sadistic? Remember that this is the same book that includes Ezekiel 16, where God acts out a la abusive husband.

Ezekiel is told to “eat” and “digest” God’s words before speaking, while most prophets just pass on the words. What is the significance of that?

What might finding God’s Word “as sweet as honey” (3.3b) mean to us and our people? Likewise, how might we have or get foreheads “like the hardest stone, harder than flint” (3.8-9)?

What is the significance of 3.11b, “Say to (the people), ‘Thus says the lord God’; whether they hear or refuse to hear.”

הודני	[33] Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.
הבינני	[34] Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
הדריכני	[35] Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
הט^-לבי	[36] Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.
העבר	[37] Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways.
הקם	[38] Confirm to your servant your promise, which is for those who fear you.
העבר	[39] Turn away the disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.
הנה	[40] See, I have longed for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life.

Note that this passage is also used in the RCL on Epiphany 7A (Proper 2A) and Proper 18A.

Psalm 119 is “A prayer for God’s help in time of trouble as well as in the keeping of the law. It may be a collection or anthology of psalm pieces. Elements of prayers for help and songs of thanksgiving intermix with exaltation of the law and expressions of commitment to it, giving the psalm the character of both instruction and prayer. It is an alphabetic acrostic psalm (see note on 9.1—10.18) made up of twenty-two stanzas of eight lines each. Following the order of the Hebrew alphabet, each stanza uses one letter of the alphabet to begin each of its eight lines. Eight different terms for the law (commandments, statutes, ordinances, decrees, words, precepts, promise, and law) are used, most of them in each stanza, and all of them in four stanzas. In its delight in the law of the Lord and commitment to it, the psalm is to be compared with Pss 1; 19.” (Patrick D Miller annotation on Ps 119.1-176 in the Harper Collins Study Bible)

Verses 35-40 are the “he” (ה) section and is a plea for wisdom to follow God’s Law. I have put the first word of each verse in Hebrew next to the beginning of each NRSV verse. (Remember that Hebrew reads right to left.) The red words at the beginning of each stanza in the LBW are the names of the Hebrew letters for that section.

It is interesting to note that since the single letter ה is the definite article in Hebrew this would be by far the easiest section to write, yet none of these 8 verses begin with “the”. Apparently God’s word is too important to take the easy way out – or perhaps too tasty to compromise with ordinary or boring food. :)

If this Sunday is the beginning of Sunday School, “Rally Day”, this might be a good text to emphasize the importance and joy of learning.

[4] But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us [5] even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- [6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- [9] not the result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Paul’s authorship of Ephesians is “disputed”. How do you deal with this and other authorship issues in the Bible with your congregation?

What is the significance of the past tense in 2.5-6 – “made alive”, “raised up”, “seated”? Is this realized eschatology? How is it connected to 2.7's mention of future “immeasurable riches . . .”? (nb: Since “undisputed Paul” usually talks about salvation in the future, not the past, this is one of the points against authentic Paul authorship of Ephesians.)

Note the repetition of “by grace you have been saved” in 2.5b and 2.8a. Are these bookends? Both times there are dashes shortly before or after this phase in the NRSV. Significance? Others?

What is the significance of “with Christ” (2.5) and “in Christ Jesus” (2.6, 7, 10)?

Note the contrast of “this is not your own doing,; it is the gift of God” (2.8b) with “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (2.10b). How do we present this to our people? How does it relate to the semi-continuos reading of James in progress these weeks? (James also has both grace and works co-mingled.)

[9] As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.

[10] And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. [11] When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” [12] But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. [13] Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

This passage is also included in the RCL for Proper 5A. However, it is Mt 9.9-13, 18-26. Mt 9.18-26 includes 2 healings (a resuscitation interrupted by a hemorrhage) and skips a discussion about fasting (9.14-17).

It is highly doubtful that Matthew the Apostle and Matthew the Evangelist are the same person. However, it is highly likely that many, if not most, people think they are. How can we deal with this regarding our overall leadership regarding Biblical authority, authority and use of tradition, Biblical criticism, etc?

Compare the calls of Ezekiel and Matthew? Do they complement or enhance each other?

9.9 a man called Matthew Note that in the Marcan & Lucan parallels the disciple who is called is called Levi, not Matthew. (Mt 9.9; Mk 2.14; Lk 5.27)

9.9 tax booth This incident occurred near Capernaum (Mt 9.1) which was both on a major trade route and on the boarder of 2 different Roman districts. Therefore, this was probably a customs station rather than poll or property taxes. All tax collectors were disliked because they were agents of the occupying Romans. Hence, Jewish tax collectors were considered traitors.

9.12 Jesus does not deny that the sick are sick, but acknowledges their need for help and provides it. As with any real need, there is some risk that one might become a contaminated in the process of helping. Apparently Jesus, unlike the Pharisees, was willing to take his chances.

9.13 mercy, not sacrifice Not many of us participate in sacrifice. What would be a comparable illustration for us today? How can we distinguish inappropriate “sacrifice” from appropriate? Appropriate from inappropriate mercy? Does “sacrifice” need to be reinstituted in any of our communities?

9.13 For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners. This is a quote from Hosea 6.6 (LXX) “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

Theological Themes & Threads
	Eze	Ps	Eph	Mat
Call / Chosen	x		x	x
Goodness of God’s Word	x	x
Forgiveness / Grace			x	x
Sensory Data taste / eat / meal hear see	x x	x		x

Suggested Sermon Titles
	Ezel	Ps	Eph	Mt
Stubborn Hearts Make Flinty Prophets	3.9
How Does God’s Word Taste to You?	3.3	x
Training for Service		x
Sitting in Jesus in Heaven with God			2.6
Created in Christ Jesus for Good Works			2.10
Welcome Sinners – the Righteous Need Not Apply				9.13
Sinner Make the Best Saints				x

I’m not sure if this is the woodcut Pfatteicher mentions in the article on p 9 of Festivals & Commemorations or not. However, it is definitely of St Matthew.

Description: Here an angel appears to instruct a writer--a typical illustration for the Evangelist Matthew.

Source: Pitts Theology Library Digital Archive of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.