This gospel reading from Matthew is surprising, if you think about it. A man named Matthew is sitting at his job in the tax collector's booth and Jesus comes to that town and says two words to Matthew, "Follow me." And Matthew stands up, walks off his job and follows Jesus. Does that ring true? Matthew didn't count the cost; he didn't think of the consequences; he just followed. It seems too abrupt and unlikely. Yet this passage is God's word for us today. What shall we make of it?

Part of the difficulty is that we only have this one little bit of a story out of the whole gospel, so it looks like the focus of the story is on Matthew and what happens to him. And perhaps the preacher will tell us to be like Matthew! To which our reaction might well be, "Good grief. I've got a family and a m…