Who, Me?

"...He saw a man called Matthew" (Matt. 9:9).

The Dutch painter Terbrugghen has provided deep insight into the calling of St. Matthew.  The painting shows Jesus pointing at Matthew from close range.  We can almost hear the words, "Follow Me" (Matt. 9:9).  Matthew is shown pointing at himself.  Clearly he is thinking, "Who, me?  You must be joking."  And so the very center of the painting features two fingers: Christ's and Matthew's.

Because Matthew was a tax collector and "sinner," he considered himself a most unlikely candidate.  To Christ, this made him a natural choice.  "For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matt. 9:13).

Christ calls you to follow Him and His Word.  You are permitted sometimes to wonder, but never to doubt it.  The decision is Christ's - all Christ's!  We gain the ability to share the forgiveness of sins with others only after learning, and remembering, that it applies to us.

God used Matthew to write the very first book of the New Testament.  Through Matthew, we have the beautiful and life-giving words, "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19).  Remember your Baptism.  It is your call to follow.  God will use you today.

Who, me?

Yes, you!

St. Matthew

September 21 is the day set aside to remember St. Matthew, apostle and evangelist.  My first name is Matthew, after St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Holt, Michigan, my father's first and only congregation that he pastored for twenty years.  Although Lutheran Service Book has a stanza for Matthew, I wanted to write another.  It is based on Matthew 9:9-13 and 28:16-20.

We praise You, Lord, for Matthew,
The tax collector who
Put down his filthy lucre,
Got up, and followed You.
Baptized, we too will follow,
Keep all that You command,
And ne'er forget Your promise:
"I'm with you to the end!"

Holy Cross Days

The Ground Zero Cross must be remembered.  It tells of a God who suffered for us, and who suffers with us.

"...the cross of Jesus" (John 19:25).

September 13 and 14 should share the name Holy Cross.

To begin with, September 14 has long been called Holy Cross Day.  On that day in the year 320 Helena, the mother of Constantine, is believed to have discovered the cross of our Lord on which He died.  It is one of the earliest Christian feast days, and points to the centrality of the death of Jesus in the Christian faith.

Enter September 13, one day before.  On this day in 2001 an excavator named Frank Silecchia discovered, amid the rubble of the World Trade Center, a cross.  A T-beam weighing thousands of pounds had the unmistakable shape of a cross, and had fallen into a perfect upright position.  It was carefully removed, blessed, and stands today.

I confess, I don't know for a fact whether Helena found the actual cross of Christ.  What I do know is that Frank Silecchia did.  And he found it where the true cross will be found: right smack in the middle of human tragedy, suffering, and death.

To bring us through.