Matt 9:9-13

Have you ever felt like you did not fit in?
Sometimes it can be very subtle, this feeling of not fitting in.
You have a job, you have your friends, you have your family,
but somehow, it seems like don’t quite belong.
It has to do with the way people treat you.
There are people we live with, work with, even play with,
and yet there is something not quite right.
No matter how much we would like to be respected and loved,
no matter what we try to do to get these people to like us,
it never quite works out right.
Not fitting in can be a subtle thing…
or it can be quite dramatic.
Maybe there is something about us that sets us apart from the people
around us in a more profound and painful way.
Maybe we are not the same age of the people around us.
Maybe we are not as wealthy or healthy as the people around us.
Maybe we are not as athletic, or beautiful, or stylish as the people around us.
Sometimes there is something that sets us apart in a dramatic way that is painful and obvious.
Think about a bunch of kids on the playground picking teams for a game of touch football.
And lets say that there is one kid who really loves football,
but try as he might, he just can’t throw or catch, or run the ball as well as the other kids.
So, as they are picking teams, all of the kids get picked first,
and then this one kid is left alone, standing there all by himself.
And then the two captains do a quick count of the players, and they say,
“Oh, sorry, we already have equal teams, you can’t play with us.”
And then both teams run off to play ball, and leave the one kid standing on the sidelines.
Do you ever feel like this kid?
Left out?
Don’t fit in?
Matthew the tax collector certainly felt this way.
In the time of Jesus, some of the people of Israel, chose to work for the Roman Empire as tax collectors.
If you know anything about the ancient world, you know that this was a brutal business, collecting taxes.
Basically, you worked on commission. the more taxes you collected, the bigger your paycheck.
So, if you were a Hebrew tax collector, you might have made good money, but you were definitely an outcast in your community.
Matthew the tax collector did not quite fit in to his community,
and when you don’t quite fit in, it is painful, deeply painful.
Sometimes, it is so painful that it can drive us to do extreme things.
Do you remember the horrible tragedy at Columbine High School in Colorado?
The kids that did all of that evil did not fit in.
They did not fit in among their peers, and they did not fit in to the society.
So they made a terrible decision to respond to that deep pain and frustration with hateful violence.
When we are deeply wounded by others who judge us and exclude us,
we may never go out and commit criminal acts,
but when the pain of not fitting in deep it is frighteningly easy to respond with evil.
A spouse who no longer fits in a marriage can walk away.
A young person who no longer fits in at school may act out in destructive ways.
A faithful Christian person who no longer fits in to the community may just give up in bitter sadness.
But sadly, none of these choices bring us any true healing.
It is only Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who brings true healing into our lives,
for it is Christ who reaches out to us when we do not fit in.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ sees Matthew sitting in his tax collectors office.
And Matthew did no fit in.
His community saw him as sinful and unworthy and marginalized him.
But Jesus says, “Come follow me.”
And today, to each one of us who does not quite fit in,
to each one of us who is marginalized and left out,
Christ says to us, “Follow me.”
So, Matthew the tax collector follows Christ, and later that day when Jesus has dinner with Matthew and his friends,
all of the Pharisees start to talk among themselves saying,
“Why does that Jesus associate with tax collectors and sinners?”
Why does Jesus associate with all of those people who don’t fit in?
And hearing them Jesus says, “Those who are healthy do not need a doctor,
but those who are sick.”
And this is the reason that God sent his son in to this world,
to give hope to those who are suffering and in need of God’s mercy,
to offer us forgiveness and reconcile us to God the father.
Christ did not come into this world to choose the best and the brightest and the holiest,
rather he comes into this world to show God’s mercy to those who are weak,
to those who are sinful and
to those who don’t fit in.
Look at the people that Jesus chose to be his apostles.
He chose Peter who would deny Jesus three times.
He chose Paul who as a persecutor of the Church,
and he chose Matthew who was a tax collector.
And having experienced God’s mercy, each of these men turned away from their sin, and followed Jesus.
Now, it is really important to remember that Jesus did not choose these disciples because they were saints.
No, he chose them, he showed mercy upon them, and they followed Him, and because of that they BECAME saints.
Jesus went into the house of Matthew the tax collector and shared a meal with him to show God’s mercy on those who did not fit in.
And today we experience the very same thing at this meal,
this Mystical Supper at which our Lord offers us his broken body and spilled blood.
Imagine that there was a coach who did something totally radical.
Instead of recruiting all of the best and most powerful players for his team,
he went from field to field, gym to gym, playground to playground and he recruited all of the kids who were left out,
all of the kids who did not fit in.
And together they trained, and studied and worked out,
and in time all of those kids got into better shape, and developed their skills, and got faster and quicker.
But what was really remarkable about this team is that it grew so quickly.
In a few short years it became massive, with hundreds even thousands of kids all coming together to work together and inspire one another.
Because everywhere they went, members of this great team would look for the lonely, the outcast, and the one who does not fit in,
always inviting new people to join in their work.
Does this sound familiar?
It should, because this is the Church.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Today Christ comes to us, who in our own way feel like we don’t quite fit in.
And Christ says to us, “You DO fit in.
For you are mine.
Come follow me.”
Brothers and sisters, in Christ we DO fit in.
We belong to Him, as brothers and sisters, members of one another, in the mystical Body of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who gave his life for us,
so that we may know God’s mercy and live.
Amen.