St. Matthew

First published in the September 19, 2022 Bulletin of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, Delray Beach, FL

Tax collectors were not extremely popular in Christ’s time. Taxes in Judea were high, and the fact that the taxes went to the support of Rome and to the descendants of Herod the Great made tax collectors even less popular. By virtue of their position, tax collectors also had to be in contact with Romans. This did not sit well with the religious leaders of the day, who held tax collectors as unclean, and not to be associated with.

This, of course, did not sway Jesus. He not only called Matthew, a tax collector, to be one of the twelve apostles, but he called him while  Matthew was actively acting in his official capacity. In the gospel which bears his name, we are told the story of his calling: “As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house,*many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples.” The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher* eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’*I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Matthew may not be the author of that Gospel. Some scholars now believe that it was written sometime after 70 A.D., and that it made use of the Gospel of Mark as a source. We may never know if Matthew is, in fact, one of the four Evangelists. But he is honored as such, and as an Apostle. He is thought to have brought the news of Christ to Ethiopia, although this is not certain. In fact, we know little about him after his calling. “Outside the New Testament, a statement of importance about him is the passage from the Apostolic Father Papias of Hierapolis preserved by Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea: “’So then Matthew composed the Oracles in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as he could.’ The Gospel According to Matthew was certainly written for a Jewish-Christian church in a strongly Jewish environment, but that this Matthew is definitely the Synoptic author is seriously doubted. Tradition notes his ministry in Judaea, after which he supposedly missioned to the East, suggesting Ethiopia and Persia. Legend differs as to the scene of his missions and as to whether he died a natural death or a martyr’s. Matthew’s relics were reputedly discovered in Salerno (Italy) in 1080. His symbol is an angel, and he is a patron saint of tax collectors and accountants.” ( Saint Matthew | History, Facts, Feast Day, & Death. Retrieved 7 September 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Matthew)

We don’t know much about St. Matthew, but what we do know is that, as soon as Jesus called him, he got up, left his work, his friends, his family, and choose to follow Christ. He was a man who, by virtue of his profession, was held apart from the people; a man who was seen as a sinner. Now, let’s face it: aside from Mary, we are all sinners, at least by virtue of original sin, and I suspect that only a few people could claim to have never sinned. And it is us who the Lord is calling. Even the righteous among us suffer from the sin of Adam and Eve; even the most sinful among us may be redeemed. By calling Saint Matthew to be one of the Twelve, Jesus made the point quite clear: we are all children of God; and it is not for us to select who is worthy to call Jesus Lord and Savior. We are all called to sainthood, to life eternal in heaven with God. We celebrate his feast day on September 21.