Dance Date

Learning to catch Jesus’ eye and fall in love

09/21/2021

Mt 9:9-13 As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

There is one question I always ask people preparing for a wedding as well as for a funeral. I ask: “When did you first meet and fall in love?” The engaged couple preparing for marriage, as well as the grieving family preparing for the funeral, always remember that magical moment of meeting and falling in love. Sometimes they saw each other across a crowded room and their eyes locked on each other. Others went on a blind date set up by their friends.

The funniest story was about a double date, where the couple actually ended up going home with the other person’s date! Some people may forget the date they got married. But few forget the moment they met the love of their life: that moment changed their life, it changed their future, and it changed the world by the children and grandchildren they brought into the world.

Today, September 21, is the feast of St. Matthew and he seems to be answering that same question I ask before a wedding and a funeral: “When did you meet the love of your life?” We read (and Matthew remembers): “As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the custom’s post. He said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.”

I love the painting by Caravaggio about this call of St. Matthew because it depicts Jesus literally looking across a crowded room and locking eyes with the future saint, apostle, and evangelist. Caravaggio’s painting is both a masterpiece of Christian art and also a masterpiece of Christian spirituality. It captures that magical moment of falling in love with the Lord, and how it changes everything.

My own personal take on Matthew’s call, however, is closer to that couple who went on a double-date but ended up switching partners. How so? Well, Matthew already has something he loves, namely, his job and his money. But Jesus has come to steal his heart and offer him a treasure that money cannot buy, that is, his divine love. And being a smart business man, Matthew makes a quick calculation and dumps his original date, and leaves the dance with Jesus.

Indeed, Matthew would invite his friends to go on a double date with Jesus and dump their original partners by inviting them to dinner with the Lord. And I would argue that is why Matthew wrote his gospel: to invite the whole world to go on a double date with Jesus, and dump their original partners. Can you see how that magical moment of meeting Jesus can change our life, our future and even the whole world?

My friends, without getting too kinky, I would suggest to you that our spiritual life can be likened to a double-date with Jesus. That is, we go through life in love with people, places and things that are important to us. And that is a good thing; that is who brought you to the dance. At the same time, however, we are also together with Jesus, but he is clearly in second place. He is not “our main squeeze” as they say.

But while we are dancing through life with our lesser loves, Jesus is trying to catch our eye so we can fall in love with him. He wants us to leave the dance of life more in love with him than with anyone or anything else, just like Matthew left his custom’s post in love with the Lord. And if Jesus does ever catch our eye and we experience that magical moment, it will change our life, our future and the world.

Today ask yourself the question when did you meet the love of your life or when did your parents meet each other and fall in love? And next time you read the gospel of Matthew, try to think of how he met Jesus and how it changed his life. And lastly, remember that this life is a dance, and you are on a double-date, and Someone is trying to catch your eye and make you fall in love with Him. Don’t leave the dance of life with the wrong date.

Praised be Jesus Christ!