Hope that Overcomes Despair
Adapted from a sermon by Fr Yacoub Magdy
Luke 5:27-39
The message of this gospel is hope. For any despair, any despondency, this is the answer.
Hope because of the restraint of Saint Matthew. Saint Matthew was restored to his original rank that was a Levite. We need to understand what a publican is and what a Levite is.
A Levite belongs to a group of people that the Lord chose to be consecrated in the temple. They lived in the temple, they don’t work and the temple covers all their needs. An entire extended family would be sustained in this way. Levites had an extremely high rank, like priests and deacons of the church.
Unfortunately, it is not made known how he became tempted to pursue riches. He applied for the role of publican of the Roman empire. A publican collects one tenth of the money the people earn and gives it to the Roman enemy. This one tenth should be given to the temple so that he, and the other Levites could live. He didn’t choose this path, but chose to work for the Romans.
Publicans get help from the Romans and are given police officers so that they may collect money from the people. Each district had to give the Romans a certain amount of money each year. Each publican was able to take as much money as they saw fit from the people, and they had police officers to protect them. You can imagine the hate the people had for the publicans, especially one that was originally a Levite.
It can be considered a priest in Egypt that loved money and devoted his efforts to collecting money from the Christians to the ruling authority (which in Egypt, would be Islam).
However, this man had something different in his heart. He did not feel it was his place to be a publican. At some point, he realised that he was not born to be a publican. There was still hope that he could return to the temple, that he could repent and be restored once more.
This day is a feast of hope, because we all have a similar outlook. Sometimes it isn’t money, but other worldly pursuits that interfere with our search for Christ.
Do I have hope? Can the Lord restore me?
The Lord was passing by Levi and all his riches surrounding him. No one can befriend a publican, he is not allowed to eat with people because he is considered defiled among the Jews. Only his colleagues that are publicans like him. He was boycotted from the temple. Great despair would have arisen within him.
The Lord said two words to Matthew, “Follow Me,” and he left all his money and in great joy, he knew he was restored.
This is our hope – that one word from the Lord can unite us back to our Beloved.
Following his restoration, Levi held a party and invited many people. The catering and cost would be extremely great. He could not invite the Jews, but he had to invite the sinners, publicans like him. How dare he make a feast of the Lord? The Lord entered into a house that was considered defiled. Maybe he heard of Zacchaeus, and how the Lord dined with him. The difference was that the Lord invited himself to Zacchaeus’ home. He may have heard this, and this gave him courage to invite the Lord.
Christ went to his house that day and dined with sinners and publicans. This angered the Jews and they saw this as betrayal. Jesus responded to them saying, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Like 5:32). He came to restore the sick to repentance. He is One of them. Today is the feast of hope. The church, in her wisdom, prepares for today before another great feast – the Transfiguration. How can I see the glory of God when I pursue the world? Jesus came to restore us to our original rank as His children. The desires of the Lord entrap us in sin and this is the day I say to the Lord, “tell me as you told Matthew. When you tell me to follow You, I will follow You all the days of my life.”