One verse in the Bible. That is all we get for the entirety of Matthew’s call story. One verse – just 30 words in the English translation we heard today – and only 20 words in the original Greek. “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.” That’s all we get. Jesus sees Matthew working, tells Matthew to follow him, and Matthew gets up and follows Jesus. When God calls Abram in our Old Testament lesson today, God makes multiple promises to Abram, makes multiple promises about the people Abram will encounter, and makes promises for the whole earth. Abram gets a whole list of reasons to pack up and go where God invites. Matthew gets two words: Follow me.
Many of us know what being called to go feels like. Our high school graduates finish an almost lifetime’s worth of work, and then go: to college, to the workforce, to a new life. Many of us have taken calls for new jobs: a military assignment, a promotion at work in the new office location, a job in a town with more opportunities. And many of us have responded to calls that felt like vocations: an invitation to serve internationally, a marriage proposal or a divorce that meant uprooting a life, starting school over again because you felt a call to a new vocation, or even venturing into a new part of town or with a new set of people because you felt a call to care for those who needed you. In all of those scenarios you said yes. You followed. You went.
So where does our yes come from? For Matthew, even though we only get 30 words of explanation, and seemingly no words about his why, there is more to the story. First, we are told that Jesus sees Matthew at a tax booth. What we know about tax collectors in Jesus’ time is that tax collectors are hated. “Matthew was socially despised and hated by the Roman subjects because tax collectors were known to be corrupt and committed to the imperial system. His tax collection helped sustain the empire’s elite and the unjust status quo.”[i] So, right away we know that for Jesus to invite a despised man, Jesus sees differently than everyone around him. Scholar Amy Frykholm says, “Jesus sees Matthew. He doesn’t see Matthew, the tax collector. He sees a full human being… Thus, Jesus and Matthew have an actual encounter. Clearly, as they truly see one another, something changes. [As Martin] Buber writes, ‘When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.’”[ii]
So, though we seemingly know nothing about Jesus and Matthew – we also know there is something profound happening between them – an electricity surging between them because they authentically and humanly relate to each other. But there is so much more to know about where Matthew’s yes could come from. In the very next verse, we learn that Jesus doesn’t just see Matthew and accept him fully. Jesus sits with a whole table of outcasts: more tax collectors, sinners, and his disciples. When called out about this socially unacceptable behavior Jesus proclaims he is about mercy. But Jesus’ mercy is not limited to outcasts. A leader in the religious community asks for revival of his dead daughter and Jesus goes to heal. A hemorrhaging woman, a defiled woman for over 12 years, reaches out to touch Jesus’ cloak because she believes Jesus will heal her too – and he does. As Stanley Hauerwas says, “Jesus is what he does. He has come to give his life so that we can live the life for which we were created.”[iii]
That is where our yes comes from. “Jesus’ ministry is marked by both urgency and accessibility. Both those who are outcast and those who are part of the social establishment find in Jesus a compassionate heart. Both those with acute needs and those with chronic pain find healing power. Both those who reach out and those who need to be beckoned find attentive aid.”[iv] I don’t know where Jesus is asking you to follow him these days. I do not know whether you feel worthy of such a call or whether you are even interested in listening. I do not know if your life feels like there is room for a yes right now. But I do know that Jesus is extending his mercy to you today. Jesus sees you – not for what you do professionally, or the things you do recreationally, or even for the ailments that seem to define you. Jesus sees you. Jesus calls you. The electricity of Jesus is surging all around you. Your invitation is to follow. Amen.
[i] Luke A. Powery, “Homiletical Perspective,” Feasting on the Word, Yr. A, Vol. 3 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 117.
[ii] Amy Frykholm, “Healing Encounters,” May 31, 2026, as found at https://journeywithjesus.net/essays/4171-healing-encounters on June 5, 2026.
[iii] Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew: Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2006), 102.
[iv] Alexander Wimberly, “Pastoral Perspective,” Feasting on the Word, Yr. A, Vol. 3 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 116.
Seeking and Serving 