Homily for September 21, 2016
Feast of St. Matthew
Matthew 9:9-13
Caravaggio completed his “Calling of St. Matthew” in 1600 for the chapel of the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, where it remains today.
There are many artistic elements on which we could focus in this painting:
- Caravaggio’s use of light. Notice how a beam of light breaks in on the dark (like Christ had just surprised a group of gangsters in the back room). The light slants across the painting and illumines the tax collectors’ faces.
- Christ’s pointing hand. When I look at this painting, the first thing I see is Jesus’ hand. Commentators say the hand is identical to Adam’s on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
- The “Zoro-like” face of Christ, half obscured. The partially-lighted face of Christ is not unkind, but neither is it kind. Jesus’ expression is all-business; he is a man on a mission. The obscuring of his eyes creates a sense of mystery; Matthew does not – indeed, cannot – know what lies in store.
- The cross in the window above Jesus’ hand. The juxtaposition of cross and hand foreshadow the crucifixion.
- Matthew’s legs already moving. Notice how Matthew’s legs are already in motion; despite still being seated, he is about to stand and follow.
Amid all of the name-calling, mud-slinging, vulgarity, and demagoguery of the current US presidential election campaign, any meaningful discussion of income inequality has receded into the deep background and the white-noise of what now passes for political “discourse” in America. So, it may be worth remembering that Thursday marked the “eighth anniversary” of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the beginning of the “Great Recession,” described by politicians, economists, and pundits alike as the worst economic catastrophe in the nation’s history since the “Great Depression” of the 1930s. And, even so, lobbyists are still hard at work to eviscerate any meaningful structural reforms that seek to prevent another such calamity in the future. Meanwhile, extreme income inequality in America continues to surge and is likely to get much worse over the next ten years as the United States struggles to adjust to a post-industrial, globalized economy dominated by free trade, robotics, and the revolutionary innovations of the digital age. With most of the financial gains of these last eight years going to the top ten-percent of the population, one economist after another has pronounced that the “good old days” of a burgeoning economy and an expanding middle-class are gone and will likely never return. Some economists even estimate that the divide between the “haves” and the “have-nots” in America is headed toward a 20 to 80 ratio within the next decade—precisely the divide that exists right now in China between the 20% of its population living in the economically booming cities and the 80% still toiling in the vast Chinese countryside. Almost 47 million Americans—15% of the population, most of them women and children—are now living in poverty; the top 1% of Americans possess 23% of the nation’s wealth; and the 400 richest Americans have a combined net-worth larger than the monetary value of the entire Russian economy. 
Augustine once remarked that God gives us easy scripture passages to keep us from starving, and difficult passages to keep us from being bored. This morning’s Gospel lesson is definitely one of the latter, that keeps us from being bored!
The Pope obviously did not get the memo. Just this past May the Pope published, “The Joy of Love,” an exhortation encouraging love in marriage and the family. But in today’s gospel lesson Jesus said: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters… cannot be my disciple!”
Summer is passing, even as our climate here in Massachusetts clings to a pattern of dry yet humid weather that has dominated for much of the season. The sun tells the tale without ambiguity: this morning it rose after 6:00, and it will be dark by the time my child is tucked into bed this evening.
You may have seen the news item this past week about a plane that crashed on landing in Dubai. In case you didn’t, let me start right off by saying that everyone on the plane actually managed to survive, although, very sadly, one of the firefighters who came out to battle the flames around the aircraft died.
I find Jesus’ words comforting: