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dare to hope

ST. MATTHEW, APOSTLE AND EVANGELISt

9/22/2020

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Today’s Kalendar commemorates St. Matthew, who was a tax collector. It seems that taxes and their collection have never been popular. This was especially the case in Galilee. When Jesus called Matthew from his customs table in the village of Capernaum, He was doing something very unpatriotic. The tax collectors were agents of Roman colonial rule and so they were seen as traitors and cheats. Jesus then did something just as offensive—he accepted Matthew’s invitation to dinner. According to the customary rules of pollution avoidance, Jesus should not even be talking to Matthew, much less reclining with him and his friends in a celebratory meal, all dipping their fingers into a shared platter of stew, tearing pieces of pita bread from a common loaf.

What was going on? Jesus had reached out to Matthew in generous love and acceptance, crossing conventional boundaries of respectability, and Matthew responded with love and generosity in return. He became a disciple and invited his friends to meet Jesus. The people Matthew knew were also tax collectors and so Jesus was dining with a whole group of sinners.

That’s it. That’s how it works, even now.

Jesus reaches out to us in love that crosses all possible boundaries and limits, and we are given the opportunity to respond to His generous acceptance with love and acceptance of our own, inviting those we know to join us in sharing a meal with Him—a foretaste of the great Messianic banquet in heaven. It doesn’t matter to Jesus that we too are sinners, as were Matthew and those he knew to invite for a meal. Jesus dines in love and celebration with us today just as He did so joyfully with Matthew and his friends long ago.

​Frederick Erickson

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    authors

    The Rev. Charles Hoffacker is a retired priest of the Diocese of Washington
    who lives in Greenbelt, Maryland. He and his wife Helena Mirtova are members of Ascension and St. Agnes.

    The Rev. Mary McCue, is a vocational deacon and currently ministers at Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes.
    ​
    The Rev. Dominique Peridans is the Rector of Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes. 

    Molly Jane Layton is a seminarian intern at Ascension and St. Agnes. 

    Zach Baker Rodes is a seminarian intern at Ascension and St. Agnes.

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  • Welcome
    • Newcomers >
      • Letter to Inquirers
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • How to Find Us
    • Childcare
  • Who We Are
    • Our Beliefs >
      • Statements of Mission, Vision, Beliefs & Value
      • What is an Anglo-Catholic?
      • Apolitical or Supra Political?
    • Our History
    • Our Leadership >
      • Parish Staff
      • Vestry
  • Worship
    • About our Worship >
      • Attending Mass
      • Music
  • Formation
    • About Formation
    • Adult Formation >
      • Adult Theology Upcoming
      • Adult Theology Archive >
        • Knowing Christ
    • Sermons
  • Connect
    • Contact us
    • Rector's Weekly Letter
    • Pastoral Care >
      • Pastoral Offices >
        • Reconciliation (Confession)
      • Prayer Requests
    • Stewardship >
      • Stewardship Letter
      • Givelify Instructions
      • Planned Giving
      • Endowment Fund
  • Calendar
  • Baptism
  • Outreach
  • Feasibility Study