Monday – Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle Gospel – Matthew9:9-13 Hospitality Part 2 Lunch Time, Upper Galilee What a difference a few days make! Last Thursday we read about a Pharisee inviting Jesus to dinner and the atmosphere was anything but hospitable; in fact, it was downright unfriendly. And then today Jesus basically invites Himself to dinner at the house of Matthew. Yes, he was a Jew but he was also a tax collector. That meant he took money from his own people and handed it over to the enemy- the Romans. And he probably kept some of the money for himself. He was considered a traitor by his fellow Jews; he would have been despised and shunned. And yet Jesus invites Himself to Matthew’s home for dinner. And amazingly, or maybe not, other tax collectors and sinners joined the meal. Jesus explains to the Pharisees that He hasn’t come for the righteous but for the sinners. In fact, Matthew’s Gospel has this recurr...
