Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist
(Ephesians 4:1-7.11-13; Matthew 9:9-13)
Caravaggio’s “The Calling of Saint Matthew” is one of the
most celebrated paintings in Rome. It hangs
in the Church of Saint Louis of France. The
painting shows Jesus pointing to Matthew at his post in the custom’s house in Capernaum. While Jesus is dressed in the clothes of the
first century, Matthew sports attire of a sixteenth century gentleman. Very significantly, Jesus’ hand is postured
like God’s hand in Michelangelo’s masterpiece of the creation of man on the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel. There is no doubt
that Caravaggio intended this.
Caravaggio is preaching to his viewers that like Jesus calls
Matthew to follow him in the first century, they are being called at the turn
of the seventeenth century. Like Jesus’
disciples and the Pharisees, they must learn the critical lesson of the prophet
Hosea and today’s gospel: “’I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’”
And so, Jesus is calling and teaching us today. It would be contrary to Jesus’ mission to say
that God does not want us to offer sacrifice, but perfectly in line with the
mission to emphasize mercy as the end or purpose of sacrifice. If our sacrifices do not make us more like Jesus
in his care of the poor and unevangelized, they may be shams, and we deficient in our following of Christ.
