“While Matthew was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples.” Matthew’s response to the call of Jesus was to throw a party and invite his friends — who were a disreputable lot. You can see in that the beginnings of Matthew’s apostolic vocation: calling people to meet Jesus. The people he calls are the people he knows, the people like him. Since we are called to be apostles by virtue of our baptism we should imitate this strategy. When we meet with people we know well, our peers, we can convey to them by how we live our lives what the grace and power of God can do, even with the likes of me.
