This is a sermon Father Cassian preached last September...
Sermon for Saint Matthew
Levi the tax collector sat daily receiving the taxes of the Jews, being hated by them for his cooperation with the Roman powers and his cheating of his own people. Then he met Jesus Christ, and everything changed. Jesus called him from what he was doing, and he left, never to return. Just like that. No long debate or discussion, no special offers or rebates, no contracts with fine print. He left what he was doing, and he never went back.
Levi threw a big party for Our Lord so all his friends could meet him, and so there gathered Our Lord, His growing number of disciples, as well as tax collectors, prostitutes, and the very critical Pharisees who thought the party scandalous, that Jesus would associate with such people. Jesus told them that those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick do.
And so we understand that Christ's church is a hospital, a place for spiritual healing. It is neither a place for showing how well we are, as though we had nothing to confess or repent of, nothing in our lives to change. Nor is it a place to resist healing, insisting on wallowing in illness. Jesus Christ is our physician, the sacraments are the medicine of immortality, and we come here because we love life, true life, and we want to live it abundantly.
So Levi changed his name to Matthew, the gift of God, and after Our Lord's ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Matthew preached the gospel in Ethiopia, and wrote his gospel in Aramaic, though it was soon translated into Greek. Matthew built up the church in Ethiopia, baptized a man named Plato and made him bishop, then retired to be a hermit living on a mountain. He also baptized the wife and son of Prince Fulvian, which enraged the prince. So Fulvian arrested him, and Matthew was martyred at the hand of Prince Fulvian of Ethiopia by fire. The prince buried him at sea in a leaden casket, but it washed up right at the church Matthew had built and was found by Bishop Plato. After this happened, Prince Fulvian repented, converted, was baptized, and later became a priest and then the bishop.
Jesus called Matthew, and he followed Jesus. He was a sinner, and he needed to be forgiven. He was sick and he needed to be healed. And when the forgiver, the healer appeared, there was nothing to bargain about, nothing to debate. He just got up and followed Him, even to Ethiopia to preach the gospel, even to his death to bear witness to the truth that Christ has overcome death.
Christ called, Matthew answered. What is Christ calling you to do to save your own soul and spread the gospel? It might not necessarily entail a trip to Ethiopia, though it might involve travel.
-- Is He calling you to learn more about the Orthodox faith by reading the Bible every day and coming to classes when they are offered at church?
-- Is He calling you to attend services more regularly, even during the week on weekdays?
-- Is He calling you to regular and more focused prayer in your own home?
-- Is He calling you to give more to the support of his church and the spread of His kingdom?
-- Is He calling you to forgive someone you've held a grudge against, or to seek forgiveness from someone you've hurt?
-- Is there a selfless act out there, just waiting to be done, that has your name on it?
God is certainly calling you to do something. Pray. Listen. Answer.
