A major Roman road called the Via Maris, the Way of the Sea, ran through Capernaum, connecting Egypt along the Mediterranean Sea to Damascus and on to the Euphrates River. Here Matthew, also called Levi, operated a toll booth for the Roman Empire. The Pharisees looked down on tax collectors both because they served the Empire that ruled over them and because they often set their own fees and got rich through the transaction.
One day Jesus passed by the booth and told Matthew to follow him. So Matthew became his disciple. To celebrate, Matthew threw a dinner party for his friends, most of whom were looked down on by the Pharisees, who called them Tax Collectors and Sinners — people who did not take obeying God’s law and their traditions very seriously.
At the party was also Jesus, the disciples he called up to that point. The Pharisees grumbled a question to his disciples, asking why Jesus ate with sinners. You have to wonder why Pharisees were at the banquet, then.
Jesus replied that the healthy do not need a doctor; sick people do. He then quoted Hosea 6:6, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” He came to call sinners to repentance, not the righteous. Taking a cue from this line, many pastors have described the church as a Hospital, not a Country Club.
Matthew, a tax collector likely supervising a staff of tax collectors, knew how to read and write. He likely viewed himself as Jesus’ amanuensis, the term for a literary assistant, responsible for everything from taking dictation, Roman wax tablet in hand, to copying documents in careful, legible handwriting to editing documents, sometimes going as far as ghostwriting. His gospel, then, carefully records what Jesus said, what eyewitnesses saw and heard, and Matthew’s own observations of what he did. Church tradition and some conservative Scholars believe it was the first gospel written, copied, and distributed, already in circulation in the 40s A.D.
Matthew would remain with Jesus through his suffering, death, resurrection, and Ascension. He provided the first New Testament scripture for the church and, according to church tradition, sealed his witness by remaining faithful until death rather than forsaking him.
Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog
The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack
Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana
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