That poverty is akin to the virtues, both earthly and heavenly discipline prove. The athlete comes naked to the contest; the sailor struggles naked with the waves; the soldier stands in the battle-line only unencumbered; he who strives toward philosophy first despises everything that lies in possessions. Poverty, then, is akin to the virtues; and if poverty is the parent of the virtues, is likewise held to be the companion of the virtues, it befits us to understand why Christ chose the poor thus for the office of virtue. Peter and Andrew, James and John—brotherhood twice joined, nay, poverty doubly redoubled—are chosen as chiefs among the apostles:
poor in resources, lowly in station, base in their craft, obscure in life, common in labor, given over to night-watches, enslaved to the waves, denied honors, subjected to injuries, whose defense was a net, who by the mere catching of fish sought their food and clothing. But in these men, insofar as the worldly aspect seemed base, so much the more did the gaze of God then behold precious souls. They were poor in resources, but rich in innocence; lowly in station, but sublime in holiness; base in their craft, but precious in their simplicity; obscure in life, but shining bright by the merit of their life; common in labors, but singular in purpose; given over to night-watches, but already called to heavenly victories; enslaved to the waves, but not drowned by the waves; denied honors, rather enriched with honors, not denied them;
subjected to injuries, but not abandoned to injuries; catchers of fish, but already appointed to be fishers of men. 'Come,' He says, 'and I will make you to become fishers of men' (Matthew 4:19); that by the casting of the life-giving bait, by the hook of the heavenly word, they might lift up out of the gulf of death souls to eternal light. Catchers of fish become fishers of men, passing from labor to labor, because labor, once practiced, knows not to grow weary. All things that come by use do not fatigue. Virtue endures through exercise. Hence it is that Christ willed to train His apostles by human labors, so that He might render them tireless in divine ones: God willed strength to remain in them, and from exercise to furnish virtue.
And because fruit comes from labor, He willed that they should not lose their labors, but change them; He Himself first granted them the practice of labor, who afterward gave them the endurance of virtue. Hence it is that they so conquered kingdoms, nations, prisons, chains, torments, deaths, and raging men in all lands. We have said that in the apostles poverty, friend of the virtues, dear to God, was chosen. As for Matthew—rich from the toll-booth, wealthy from usury, laden with the gains of the world—whom Christ chose into the apostolate, what shall we say? Today Matthew has begun thus concerning himself: 'And as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man sitting at the toll-booth, Matthew by name; and He said to him, Follow Me' (Matthew 9).
Matthew the publican raises for us no small problem by his gains, and by his trade sets before us a great difficulty. But someone says: What problem? What difficulty? God took up the poor, but He does not reject the rich. He takes up him who has, and draws to Himself those who have not. Abraham was rich (Luke 16), Job was rich, David was rich. And what is more blessed than Abraham? What stronger than Job? What holier than David? For Abraham, after earthly griefs, encloses devout souls that fly back to heaven in the bosom of his consolation. And Job, amid the very engines of riches, himself conquered the devil, and left us an example of conquering him. Abraham so possessed riches that he often both despised them when offered and trod them underfoot when granted (Genesis 14);
and he so loved to possess riches, not to be possessed by riches; to have them as material for liberality, not as fuel for cupidity. But to this it is answered: for the saints riches were innocent, inasmuch as they were given by God, not basely acquired; granted for the use of life, not for the usury of death. But as for Matthew the publican, riches so proclaimed him a master of cupidity, so roasted him in the furnace of avarice, so bound him with the bonds of promissory notes, so weighed him down with the burdens of moneybags, that he could neither be lifted to innocence, nor rise to justice, nor advance to virtue. Whence even his sitting was a sinking down, not a sitting.
Why then Christ called such a man to His own, why He chose him for divine things—unless it be sought more deeply—raises a most profound problem, and not only a problem, but even a scandal, as at that time the intent of the bystanders made plain. For how would human weakness not be troubled, when it saw that with Christ money availed so much, that He gave faith to the fraudulent, favor to the venal, the office of liberality to a master of cupidity, the teaching of holiness to a doctor of usury, the heavenly secret to a publican of the world?
It galled the onlookers, that usury—which lays waste the earth—was being lifted up to heaven, and that the Godhead was summoning this thing which men detest. But Matthew himself, who was to lead forth the truth about himself and could not keep silent about these things, lays open how those who then saw felt. 'And when Jesus was reclining at table in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came, 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?' And the Pharisees said this so that it might be a great evil, which could displease even evil men: and if it was a sacrilege for publicans to share with Christ even in food, what was it to associate a publican with divine things?
Brethren, in this question the interpreter's ingenuity would labor, if the Lord Himself, to whom the very question is put, did not take away the whole of what belongs to the question. Let us therefore repeat the order of the reading: let us hear why Christ came to Matthew. 'As He was passing by,' it says, 'Jesus.' He did not say, as He was standing there: Jesus passed by, and passed on from there, lest Matthew should remain there; Jesus passed on from there, lest Matthew should remain there in such a state. 'He saw a man.' He did not say, He saw Matthew, because in Matthew He was setting a man free; that is, men whom money possessed cannot serve God while they serve money. 'You cannot,' He says, 'serve God and mammon' (Matthew 6). 'Come, follow Me.'
He did not say, Bring to Me, because He was seeking Matthew, not Matthew's moneybags. 'Come, follow Me.' That is, lay down the burdens, break the bonds, loose the snares. Follow Me. Seek thyself, lose the usury, that thou mayest be able to find thyself. But now let us hear what He answered the Pharisees: 'They that are in health,' He says, 'have no need of a physician, but they that are ill.' Behold why Christ had come to Matthew: to heal the wounds of avarice, to cure the corruption of usury. 'Go,' He says, 'and learn what it is: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' He desired mercy, that Matthew might extend into acts of mercy what he had taken through wretchedness; and thereby redeem the penalty whence he had procured the fault. 'I came not to call the just, but sinners.'
By saying this, He did not repel the just, but shut out the unjust, who falsely claimed themselves to be just. Christ, therefore, in that He came to sinners, willed to blot out sins, not to dwell together with sinners. What it is to give life to the dead, this it is to bestow liberality upon a miser. And so, in that Christ calls Matthew, it is not that reckoning of money, but it is the whole reckoning of virtue. In short, Matthew was soon made poor on earth, that he might be held rich in heaven.