Matthew’s Call as Radical Inclusion!

Saturday, January 13, 2024

1 Sam 9:1-4, 17-19,10:1; Mk 2:13-17

Eight young Italian boys wrote a book in 1967 entitled Letter to a Teacher: By the School of Barbiana. It was an eloquent indictment of the Italian educational system of the time, which favored the children of the middle and professional classes and neglected the children of the peasants and poor. The learning was designed to take place within a discriminatory framework where the boys from privileged backgrounds were regarded as being ‘smart,’ while the disadvantaged kids were frowned upon as being ‘slow’ learners. While building their argument against a biased pedagogy, they compared the unfair learning environment to a ‘hospital which tend(s)[ed] to the healthy and reject(s)[ed] the sick.’

Just like the eight Italian boys who sensed discrimination in their educational system, Jesus too perceived a deeply ingrained bias against the downtrodden in society. It is against this backdrop that Jesus declares, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.’  

When Jesus says, ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners,’ he addresses structural exclusion through radical inclusion. 

Though Matthew is a social outcast because of his profession as a tax collector, Jesus names him as one of the twelve apostles. 

Jesus was oriented toward establishing a counter-community through his preaching and praxis.

Jesus achieved it and invites us to follow his model today!

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar