Monday Read: September 21 - Matthew the Tax Collector
Today the church celebrates the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. His story is simple but profound. Matthew (also called Levi) was a tax collector in Capernaum when Jesus passed by and said two words: "Follow me" (Matthew 9:9). Matthew rose immediately, left his tax booth and coins, and followed Jesus. That's it. No lengthy deliberation, no gradual transition, no backup plan. He walked away from everything.
To understand how radical this was, you need to understand what tax collectors represented in first-century Judaism. They were Jews who worked for Rome, collecting taxes from their own people to fund the occupation. They were considered traitors - collaborators with the enemy, profiting from their nation's oppression. Tax collectors routinely charged more than required and pocketed the difference. They were dishonest, greedy, and despised.
Jewish society shunned them completely. Tax collectors couldn't testify in court, trade in synagogues, or even pray with other Jews. Their families were disgraced - their children considered unsuitable marriage partners. To be a tax collector was to be cut off from your community, your faith, your people. Yet it was lucrative. Matthew was wealthy, living comfortably on money extracted from his countrymen.
When Jesus called Matthew, religious leaders were scandalized. Not just that Jesus spoke to a tax collector, but that he ate with him. Matthew threw a banquet for Jesus, inviting his fellow tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees protested to Jesus's disciples: "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" (Matthew 9:11).
Jesus's response redefined his mission: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matthew 9:12-13). He was quoting Hosea 6:6 - a prophet's rebuke of empty religious ritual disconnected from compassion. The Pharisees were so focused on purity rules that they missed God's heart for the lost.
Matthew's call reveals several crucial truths. First, no one is beyond Jesus's reach. The Pharisees had written off Matthew and his colleagues as unredeemable. They were unclean, outside God's concern, irredeemable sinners. Jesus called them anyway. Your past doesn't disqualify you from Jesus's call. Your sin doesn't put you beyond his reach. Your failures don't make you unusable.
Second, Jesus calls unlikely people. Matthew wasn't a religious leader, a respected scholar, or a devout follower. He was a corrupt tax collector, hated by his community, living off exploitation. Yet Jesus chose him as an apostle and entrusted him to write the first Gospel. God specializes in using people the world rejects - not just despite their brokenness but often because of it.
Third, Jesus's call demands immediate, costly response. Matthew didn't negotiate terms or plan gradual transition. He left his lucrative position immediately. Importantly, you can't go back to being a tax collector after following Jesus publicly. Matthew couldn't return if discipleship didn't work out. His choice was irrevocable. Following Jesus costs everything.
Fourth, transformation changes relationships. Matthew's Gospel contains more references to banquets and meals than the other Gospels. The man who hosted tax collectors and sinners to meet Jesus understood fellowship's evangelistic power. He knew outcasts needed invitation, not condemnation. His past informed his ministry.
Matthew went on to write the Gospel that bears his name - likely the first Gospel written, penned for Jewish Christians to prove Jesus was the promised Messiah. His Gospel quotes the Old Testament more than any other, showing how Jesus fulfilled prophecy. The despised tax collector became the evangelist demonstrating to his own people that Jesus was everything the Law and Prophets promised.
Church tradition says Matthew preached in Judea before traveling to Ethiopia or other regions (accounts vary). He was eventually martyred, though details are uncertain - possibly burned, stoned, or beheaded. The tax collector who collaborated with oppressors died proclaiming the King who liberates from all oppression.
Pope Francis chose his papal motto from a homily by Bede the Venerable about Matthew's calling: "Miserando atque eligendo" - "By having mercy and by choosing him." Jesus saw Matthew's sin and brokenness. He loved him anyway. He chose him for apostleship. Mercy preceded calling. Love enabled transformation.
What are you using to disqualify yourself from Jesus's call? What past mistakes make you think you're unusable? What current failures convince you God can't work through you? Matthew's story says you're wrong. Jesus specializes in calling unlikely people, transforming broken lives, using failures for his purposes. He didn't call Matthew because Matthew was worthy. He called Matthew to make him useful.
The same Jesus who passed Matthew's tax booth and said "Follow me" is passing your life right now with the same invitation. Will you leave what you're clinging to and follow? It will cost everything. It will be worth it.
