Brethren, the scripture says, “No one who believes in God will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows His riches upon all who call upon Him. For, “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how are men to call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!” But they have not all obeyed the Gospel; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.” Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek Me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” I ask, then, has God rejected His people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.
Romans 10:11-21; 11:1-2 (Epistle for St. Matthew the Evangelist)
When Jesus walked the earth two thousand years ago, there were many diverse cultural forces at play. Intellectually, the Greek culture was the dominant culture and language. The New Testament would be written in Greek. Those who were educated spoke Greek. Militarily and politically, it was the Roman culture that dominated. The Roman Empire had military and political control over most of the civilized world, certainly in all the areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. There were three distinct groups when it came to religion. There were the Jews, the pagans and the non-religious. The Jews considered the non-Jews to be Gentiles.
The Jews identified as God’s chosen people, through the covenant God made with Abraham in the book of Genesis. Being Jewish wasn’t only a religious identification but a cultural one. One was born Jewish. The sign of the covenant was circumcision, so all Jewish males were circumcised on their eighth day. The Gentiles did not practice circumcision.
Jesus, throughout His ministry, and especially in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) emphasized that His message was for ALL people, both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus commissioned the Apostles to go out and spread the Gospel to “all nations” (Matthew 28:19). This task was daunting for several reasons. The first was that there weren’t many Apostles, just twelve, and the number of devout followers was probably in the hundreds, not thousands. The second daunting task was how to convert the thinking of the Jewish people that they were not God’s only chosen people, that the “new covenant” would be for ALL the people. The Jews who were now converting to Christianity struggled with the idea of Gentiles also converting to Christianity. I.e. they were not Jewish, chosen, descendants of Abraham, circumcised, etc. A third challenge was helping Gentiles understand how they could see themselves also as chosen and incorporate into being followers of Christ. There was a geographical challenge of spreading the Gospel to a large area while keeping the faith unified and the leadership staying in communication. And the fifth challenge was that the Roman Empire was against Christianity—this great commission would need to be fulfilled amidst marked hostility.
Saint Matthew was a Jewish tax collector. The Jews did not like him because he was a tax collector. The Romans didn’t like him because he was Jewish. Yet, it was this man whom Christ chose to be one of His twelve disciples and who would go on to become one of the four Gospel writers (evangelists). The Gospels of Matthew and Luke differ because the audiences that they were trying to reach were different. St. Matthew wrote his Gospel for a Jewish audience. Hence, he begins his Gospel with the genealogy of Christ, showing Christ as a direct descendant of Abraham. Matthew’s Gospel also references the most prophecies being fulfilled, such as in Matthew 2:15, where he writes, in reference to Joseph, Mary and Jesus fleeing to Egypt to escape the murderous wrath of King Herod: This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” There are many similar references to prophecies being fulfilled, so that the Jewish audience would connect the things that had been prophesied in the Old Testament were being fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Epistle lesson read on the feast of St. Matthew from Romans 10, begins by emphasizing the universality of Christ’s message: “No one who believes in God will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows His riches upon all who call upon Him. (Romans 10: 11-12) St. Paul then emphasizes the importance of Apostolic (and by extension, those who lead today) leadership, that people cannot call on God if they don’t believe, and they can’t believe unless they hear the good news, and they can’t hear the good news unless someone preaches to them, and no one can preach to the people if they are not sent by God (and ordained by the church). This Scripture endorses the Orthodox understanding of ordination, that there is a commissioning and sending out of the preacher, not just a self-appointed ministry.
So much of our liturgical tradition is drawn from Scripture, and one (of countless) example is Romans 10:18, “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” This is the Communion Hymn during the Divine Liturgy on all feastday of the Apostles.
This Epistle passage end with St. Paul offering reassurance to the Jews, God’s chosen people, that the inclusion of the Gentiles in the path to salvation laid out by Jesus Christ is not a rejection of Judaism. St. Paul reiterates that he is a descendant of Abraham, through the tribe of Benjamin, and endorses the message of Christ being preached to all nations, with all people’s having an opportunity for salvation.
Let us the faithful applaud with songs today, on the occasion of the memory of the holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew. He threw off the weights and the gold of tax-collecting, and he followed Christ; and he became a godly herald of the Gospel. And as the Psalmist said prophetically, his proclamation went forth into all the world. Now he intercedes for the salvation of our souls. (Doxastikon, Orthros, Feast of St. Matthew, Trans. by Fr. Seraphim Dedes)
Christianity is not exclusive of any cultural group. To be an Orthodox Christian, one must accept and practice a certain set of beliefs and traditions. The opportunity to do so is there for everyone!
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