Follow Me

“Follow Me.” Mark 2:14

Oscar Wilde, the profligate playwright, wrote “The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future."

When Jesus walked along beside the lake, he caught sight of Levi, sitting at the tax collector’s booth. I wonder what made Jesus single the son of Alphaeus out, and call to follow Him? Could Jesus see his heart, how Levi longed for a life of significance perhaps? Or could He sense the longing in Levi to be a better man and knew he was fertile soil He could plant seeds in? Levi exhibited both humility and openness to the Lord’s call. And so Levi became Matthew, a sinner with an unimaginable future. 

Saint Matthew became one of Jesus’ disciples, and Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria, both pillars of the early Church, claimed that he preached the gospel to the Jewish community in Judea, before going to other countries like Ethiopia. He died a martyr like most of the other disciples. 

I would be one of the last to claim to understand the complexities of the life Oscar Wilde led, even though I love reading his plays and watching the movies made out of them, especially “Lady Windermere’s Fan”. I’m happy that in the end, he chose to call out to God for solace on his deathbed. Like Matthew, he realized that there is only One who can give us eternal life and peace.