原文|Bishop Barron
翻译|Carrie

朋友们，今天我们庆祝圣玛窦节，福音讲述了他皈依耶稣的过程。玛窦简洁又细致地描述了精神生活由死到生的过渡情形。首先，我们注意到耶稣的目光。如果说《圣经新约》有一个明确的主题，那就是恩宠至上。

 

为什么？我们不知道。我们只知道自己是无法自我提升到精神完善的状态，必须有一种来自外部的注视落在我们身上。与其说我们找到天主，不如说我们允许自己被天主发现。

 

耶稣对玛窦说，“跟随我。”在基督徒生活里，没有什么比这句话更简单或更基本的了。我们作为信徒要做的就是：跟随祂、紧跟其后、拜祂为师。“他就起来跟随了耶稣。” 这个象征棒极了。起来、起身、anastasis（古希腊语：复活），这个词也用来表达耶稣死而复活。皈依（转变）同时也是提升、起来。

 

来到基督跟前即采取一种更高、更丰富、更宽广的生活方式。如今，生活就不仅仅是肉身的享乐和美好；如今，我们凭借天主在祂之内生活。

 

Friends, today we celebrate the feast of St. Matthew, and our Gospel tells of his conversion. Matthew’s laconic account details what the transition from spiritual death to spiritual life is like. First, we notice the look of Jesus. If there is one theme clearly stated in the New Testament it is that of the primacy of grace.

 

Why? We don’t know. We just know that we will not lift ourselves to spiritual wholeness. A gaze has to come upon us from the outside. Not so much finding God as allowing ourselves to be found.

 

Jesus says to him, “Follow me.” There is nothing simpler or more basic in the Christian life than this. This is what we disciples do: we follow, we walk after him, we apprentice to him. “He got up and followed him.” The symbolism here is marvelous. Getting up, rising up, anastasis, the same word used to designate the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Conversion (turning around) is also elevation, rising up.

 

To come to Christ is to come to a higher, richer, broader form of life. Now life is not simply the pleasures and goods of the body; now life is lived in and through God.

 

2017-9-20

朋友们，在今天的福音中，法利赛人比较洗者若翰和耶稣的饮食习惯，前者禁食，后者与罪人们聚餐。在耶稣身处的年代，社会阶层格外分明，正派人士绝不与罪人交往，因为害怕沾污名声。

 

但耶稣到来，让所有人震惊，因为祂确实冲破了世俗障碍。假如你看到我跟妓女和毒贩来往、跟恐怖分子吃吃喝喝，你会怎样想？你会感到震惊？不安？失望？但耶稣当时就是这样做，恰恰是因为祂是天主道成人身，拼命地寻找迷失的灵魂。

 

天主寻找我们、追逐我们、永不放手、永不减慢脚步、永不言弃。我们越要逃跑，祂就越要追赶；我们越要躲藏，祂就越要寻觅；我们越要抵抗，祂就越要坚持。天主爱罪人，并与他们交往。

 

Friends, in today's Gospel the Pharisees compare the eating habits of John the Baptist, who fasted, and Jesus, who dined with sinners. In the carefully stratified society of Jesus' time, a righteous person would never associate with the unrighteous for fear of becoming unclean.

 

But here is Jesus, scandalizing everyone because he does indeed break down these barriers. How would you feel if you saw me socializing with prostitutes and drug-dealers, eating and drinking with terrorists? Would it shock you, dismay you, disappoint you? But this is what Jesus did, precisely because he is the Incarnation of the God who aggressively seeks out the lost.

 

God looks for us, comes running after us, never lets go, never relents, never gives up. The more we run, the more he runs after; the more we hide, the more he looks; the more we resist, the more he persists. God loves sinners and associates with them.