Mt 9:9-13
9As Jesus passed on… he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. 10While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. 11The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. 13Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
Jesus saw Matthew Sitting at the Customs Post: Scriptures abound with stories of persons encountered and called by God while they are going about their daily concerns. Moses was called by God through the burning bush while he was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro (Ex 3:1-2). God indicated to Samuel his election of David as king while the boy was out tending the sheep (1 Sm 16:11-13). Through the prophet Elijah, God called Elisha while he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen (1 Kgs 19:19). God called Amos to be a prophet while he was going about his work as a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores (Am 7:14). In turn, Jesus called Simon, Andrew, James, and John while they were occupied as typical Galilean fishermen (Mt 4:18-22). Now, he calls Matthew while he sits busy working as a tax collector. God needs not the idealists or the idle but the “workers for the harvest” (v 38; Lk 10:2).
Indeed, the Lord is with us, sharing the details of our life, and guiding us as we go about our tasks for God’s kingdom. The Matthean community, in particular, felt that Jesus is Immanuel—God with us. The Gospel of Matthew ends with this assurance of the risen and glorified Christ: “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (28:20). God is with us not only during “prayer time” but in all details of our life, be they banal or extraordinary.