Today's Gospel reading so changed Matthew the publican into an apostle, that he who was a defrauder of money became a dispenser of grace, and passed from the school of impiety to the mastership of piety; and he became a teacher of mercy, who had been an instructor of avarice. 'As Jesus was passing by, He saw a man sitting at the toll-booth, Matthew by name' (Matthew 9). 'As Jesus passed on from there'—well did He pass on from there: He was passing over from Judaea, that He might come to the Gentiles; He was passing by the Synagogue, that the Church might abide; He was passing beyond the fatherland of the flesh, that He might return to the seat of His deity. In Christ, brethren, the injury of the flesh is transitory, in whom the honor of divinity is eternal. 'As He passed on from there, He saw a man.'
He saw more with divine eyes than with human. He saw a man, that He might not see the man's sins. He saw His own work, that He might look down upon the works of the sinners. God saw him, that he might see God. Christ saw him, that he might no longer see the hiding-places of money. Christ saw him sitting, because, pressed by the weight of cupidity, he was unable to rise. Brethren, this publican was sitting at the toll-booth worse than the paralytic, of whom we spoke before, was lying on his bed. Because the former was suffering a paralysis of the flesh, the latter of the mind: in the former the framework of the members had been disturbed, in the latter the whole order of the senses had been dissipated; the former lay caught by the flesh, the latter sat captive in body and mind;
the former unwillingly succumbed to pains, the latter willingly served his vices; the latter seemed innocent to himself in the crime of avarice, the former acknowledged himself a sinner amid his wounds; the latter heaped up the sins of gains, the former blotted out sins by the groans of his sufferings. Deservedly, therefore, it is said to the paralytic, 'Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee' (Matthew 9), because he had compensated for his offenses by his pains; but to the publican it is said: 'Come, follow Me.' That is, that by following Me thou mayest repair what by pursuing money thou hast lost. But someone says: Why is the publican, who seems greater in crime, held greater in reward? For soon, foretold with a sure dignity of the apostolate, he not only himself received, but also granted to others the pardon of their sins:
he irradiates the whole world with the splendor of evangelical preaching, and the paralytic is scarcely held worthy of pardon alone. Wilt thou know why the publican obtained more? Because, according to the Apostle, 'where sin abounded, grace did more abound' (Romans 5). We know that the publican holds the type of the Gentile people, that the paralytic is the figure of the Jewish people, who even today is held on the bed of ill health, so that unless he be carried by the faith of the Gentiles, offered to Christ by the compassion of the saints, saved by the belief of the Christian people, he cannot come to the house of faith, to the house of the fatherland. 'And as He reclined at table in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came,' it says, 'and were reclining with Him and His disciples.'
But the Pharisees, seeing it, said to His disciples: Why does your Master eat with publicans and sinners? God is arraigned, because He inclines Himself to man; because He lies down beside the sinner, because He hungers for repentance, because He thirsts for the return of sinners, because He accepts the dishes of mercy, because He takes up the cup of piety. Brethren, Christ came to the meal, Life came to the banquet, that He might make those who were to die feast together with Him; Resurrection lay down, that those who lay dead might rise from their tombs; Indulgence reclined, that He might raise sinners to pardon; Divinity came to humanity, that humanity might come to divinity; the Judge came to the meal of the accused, that His humanity might forestall the sentence of guilt;
the physician came to the ailing, that by feasting together He might refresh the weary; the good shepherd inclined His shoulders, that He might carry back the lost sheep, bringing salvation, to the fold. But this the Pharisee detests and censures, who thinks the Lord's meal to be not of virtue, but of the belly; not of the spirit, but of the flesh; not of divine goodness, but of human pleasure; of earthly luxury, not of heavenly grace. Thus, thus does he see himself, who sees not God. Who blames the physician for lying down beside those who lie sick, except the enemy of human salvation? Who reproaches the shepherd bending over the weary flock, except one who knows not the love of a gainful flock?
Who judges the Judge for His piety, except him who is desperate? Who spurns the communion of God, except a sacrilegious man? Who shudders at indulgence, except a cruel one? Why does your Master eat with publicans and sinners? And who is a sinner, except him who denies himself to be a sinner? He himself is the more a sinner, and, to speak more truly, he is now sin itself, who no longer understands himself to be a sinner. And who is unjust, except him who judges himself just? Thou hast read, O Pharisee, that 'in Thy sight shall no living man be justified' (Psalm 142). As long as we are in a mortal body, and frailty holds dominion in us; even if we conquer sins in act, we cannot conquer the sins of our thoughts, and flee our injustices:
and if we can avoid them in body, and if we are able to overcome an evil conscience, how can we abolish the faults of negligence, the sins of ignorance? O Pharisee, confess thy sin, that thou mayest be able to come to Christ's table, that Christ may be bread for thee and that the bread itself may be broken for the pardon of thy sins, that Christ may become for thee a cup, who is poured out for the remission of thy transgressions. O Pharisee, dine with sinners, that thou mayest be able to dine with Christ; acknowledge thyself a sinner, that Christ may dine with thee; enter the banquet of thy Lord with sinners, that thou mayest be able not to be a sinner; enter the house of mercy with Christ's pardon, lest with thy judgments thou be punished, shut out, outside the house of mercy:
acknowledge Christ, hear Christ, hear thy Lord, hear the heavenly physician, decisively refuting thy calumnies. They that are in health have no need of a physician, but they that are ill. If thou desirest a cure, acknowledge thy sickness. I came not to call the just, but sinners. If thou longest for mercy, crush thy sin. 'Go,' He says, 'and learn what it is: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice' (Hosea 6). Christ desires mercy, and not sacrifice; or what sacrifice will He seek, who, that He might seek thee, was Himself made a sacrifice? I came not to call the just, but sinners. He did not repel the just, but because without Christ no one is held innocent on earth. I came not to call the just, but sinners.
By saying thus, He did not repel the just, but because He found all men sinners. Hear the Psalmist. 'The Lord looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there be any that understand or seek after God. They are all gone aside, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, there is not even one' (Psalm 13). Brethren, let us be, let us be sinners by our confession, that by Christ's pardon we may not be sinners.