The Call of Matthew
By Pastor Jim May
Mark 2:13-17, "And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Matthew 9:9-13, "And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me.
Luke 5:27-32, "And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.
Jesus was always teaching people while He walked along the seashore of the Sea of Galilee. His life was one long teaching session.
In Romans 11:33 Paul tells us that God is more than we could ever imagine. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"
Jesus wanted man to know Him and to accept Him as God, yet he knew that most would never accept Him, nor believe that Jesus was the very Son of God. But part of the reason that God took on the form of human flesh was so that he could reveal who he was and what he was all about. There was so much to learn and so little time for mankind to receive it.
Jesus used every opportunity to teach, so even in the calling of his disciples there are lessons to be learned. The call of Matthew to be his disciple was one of those occasions.
As I have read, you can see that both Mark and Luke call him Levi. The only one of the four gospel’s of the New Testament to call him Matthew is the Book of Matthew. Why would Matthew call him Matthew? The answer is that Matthew wrote the book and he chose to use his own name, Matthew, and not Levi. While this is not a mistake in any of the books, it does show that men controlled what they were writing even though the Holy Spirit was inspiring them to write. The humanity of the writers always shows through in each book of the Bible.
And so it is with your life. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." You are being led by the Holy Spirit as you walk through life. In effect, he is telling you what to write in the book of your own life that you are living for Him and through him. The testimony of your life in Christ is an open book for all to read, and right in the middle of all that the Holy Spirit is leading you to do, your own personality and character shows through.
That’s what was happening in the writing of the Books of the Bible as well.
Matthew, or Levi, was a Tax Collector for the Roman government. Jesus was looking for Matthew as he walked along. He already knew who he would call to be his disciple. He knew that Matthew would be there that day, in his place, and it was that steadiness, and sometimes defiant strength that Jesus was looking for in a disciple. Anyone who would follow Jesus for the next few years would have to be a pretty strong willed and defiant person. No wimps could stand the pressure that would come to bear on the disciples. Jesus didn’t need a weakling; he needed some real men, who would stand up for what they believed in at all costs.
As Jesus walked along when He finds Matthew sitting in a tax booth. The tax booth was not a shaky four-sided wood frame with large openings on each side. History tells us that the tax booth stood high above the ground, much like a very elaborate life-guard station on a beach. It was designed to help the tax collector see boats and people coming and going. The tax collector could watch what type of business was going on in every direction and then approach the individual or individuals and collect taxes. The tax booth was located along a major commercial trade route that connected Damascus and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Roman Military government had set up a tax system and the whole nation of Israel was divided into districts. Each district was required to collect an assigned tax amount that was decided upon and imposed by the Emperor and the Roman legislature to help pay for the cost of its army of occupation plus send a tribute to the Roman treasury.
Matthew’s tax booth was located in a region ruled by Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee, which meant that Levi, or Matthew, was an employee of Herod Antipas. The Roman tax system allowed individuals to bid for the right to collect taxes for them. The highest bidder would win the contract and then be given the right to collect taxes.
There is another man in the scripture that I’m sure you have heard of who was a tax collector for Rome. Luke 19:2 says, "And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich." Zaccheus was a chief tax collector. To win that position he must have submitted a high bid for the job. When he was awarded the contract, he was then given the authority to let out sub-contracts to other “publicans” , or tax collectors. It was an early form of “Network Marketing” whereby Zaccheus would sign up others under him, let them do the dirty work on the streets. The collectors on the streets would face the ridicule, and often collect more than they should so that they could pocket the overcharges. Then they would pass their “Fair Share” up to Zaccheus. He, of course, would skim his share off of the top of each one sent to him, and then send in only what Rome demanded from his district. It’s no wonder that the scripture says that “he was rich”. But he was rich off of the misfortune of his own neighbors.
It sounds to me like he would have made a really good U. S. congressman, or a government bureaucrat on Capitol Hill.
Two types of taxes were collected: fixed and duties or tolls. The fixed taxes were usually set at 10% for food products such as oil, grain, and wine. In addition there was a 1% income tax that was collected. Then there were duties and tolls included taxes for road use, docking boats at the harbor, import and export taxes, and sales taxes. There was also a cart tax. The cart tax depended upon the number of wheels and the type of wheels used on the cart. In effect, every street was a toll road and the only truly economical way to travel was either on foot or riding on an animal.
There was no limit to the amount of money the chief tax collector or his employees could actually collect. Rome did not care how much they collected as long as they fulfilled the amount agreed to in their contract with Rome. Whatever they collected over that they were allowed to keep.
What Did Jesus See in Matthew, and later on in Zaccheus? Why did Jesus ask Matthew to follow him? Matthew would have been a surprising choice to the other disciples. Jesus and His disciples were all Jewish! Matthew would have been hated by the Jews and it is very likely that Peter, James and John, and others would have been overtaxed by Matthew or some other publican. Tax collectors weren’t well liked to say the least.
The Jewish Talmud describes tax collectors as “robbers”. The Jewish Mishnah Tohorot (A collection of sacred laws and duties pertaining to living a clean life) said that if a tax collector entered a Jewish home, it would become unclean. Throughout the history of the Roman rule in Israel there were many times when people would bring charges of corruption against the tax collector. Gabinus, the proconsul of Syria, accused Cicero of graft in the collection of taxes.
Tax collectors were dishonest and hated. Jewish tax collectors were despised by the Jews and were considered to be traitors. Sometimes they were even aligned with “the mob”, organized crime syndicates, of that day, and sometimes employed “enforcers.” If you didn’t pay up at tax time, a Jewish “Guido” might show up to break your arm or your leg, or kidnap a family member until the tax, plus a ransom was paid in full.
The gospels record that the Jews sometimes grouped them together with “swindlers, cheats, crooks, adulterers, prostitution rings, and worst of all, the Gentiles. Tax collectors were not allowed to serve as witnesses in a court because they were considered to be dishonest. Every word out of their mouth was considered a lie. They were not permitted inside the synagogues, because to go inside would make the very House of God an unclean place. But they didn’t care, because the tax collectors were among the richest people of Jewish society and they knew that their money could buy them any position or any possession, or any business deal that they wanted. Money talked just as much then as it does now.
So why did Jesus pick Matthew? Why did Jesus pick a rich man to be His disciple? The answer is not found in Matthew’s wealth, because Luke says that he left everything to follow Jesus.
Matthew left the tax booth, his employees, and the money. How many of us would walk away from our jobs in order to follow Jesus? Would you? What did Jesus see in Matthew? The answer is surprising. Jesus did not see a rich tax collector. Jesus looked past his occupation and saw a man who had the heart to follow after God. He picked someone everybody else would reject. He saw a man who was teachable and would some day be a great apostle for the cause and glory for God. He saw a man who some day would die as a martyr in Ethiopia for Him.
This is a great reminder that God can use anyone who is willing to be used by God. That includes each one of us. But there is a key requirement - we must be willing to leave everything! Jesus knew that Matthew would do that. I suspect that Jesus had walked the shores of the Sea of Galilee many times before. It is possible that Jesus had talked with Matthew before because Matthew would have been sitting at the tax booth looking for more money every day. This time Jesus did not come to talk but to invite Matthew to follow. It was an invitation that Jesus knew he would respond to, and he did.
The next thing we see is that Matthew responded to Jesus’ call to follow him by holding an expensive going away party.
The Greek wording reveals that this was a huge feast and a very expensive one. Apparently, Matthew had invited his other friends: tax collectors and sinners. Maybe they were the only ones who would spend time with him, since the Jews would have nothing to do with tax collectors. Jesus and His disciples were also there. We are told in Matthew, Mark, and Luke that they reclined at the table. It would be like lying down on a sofa on your side while eating. This was a great party, with lots of food and drink and probably some expensive entertainment. It was a real society bash.
Matthew gave the big party for Jesus! It was a party to introduce his friends to Jesus.
Matthew wanted his friends to believe in Jesus too! What better way than to hold a party and invite your non-believing neighbors.
But there were some guests at the party that neither Jesus nor Matthew had invited. They just came in unannounced because they had political clout and no one dared turn them away. It was a group of Scribes from the Jewish Council. They weren’t there to put a stamp of approval on Jesus and Matthew but to find fault and point fingers of blame and guilt. They were there on behalf of all the wronged people of Israel who had been robbed by these publicans.
The Scribes and Pharisees would be like seminary students today. The Pharisees were strict adherents to the Jewish faith who upheld the purity of the Jewish faith and life. They had adopted extra religious rules and regulations designed to prevent every faithful Jew from violating the law of God. They called these extra religious rules and regulations “a hedge about the law.” However, their extra rules violated God’s law and were great burdens on the backs of the people.
Luke 5:30 tells us that the Scribes and Pharisees were “grumbling” because Jesus was eating with the tax collectors and “sinners.” These scribes were continuously talking and complaining to one another about Jesus’ conduct. Finally, someone asked Jesus why He was eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners.
Jesus told them that those who are well do not need a doctor. Only those who are sick.
Men and women are no different today. There are those today who do not know that they are spiritually sick. Many of the Jewish religious leaders considered themselves to be spiritually well. Jesus’ message is clear. He did not come for them because they would not accept His message. He came for those who would respond.
The scribes did not care about the spiritual condition of the men and women at Matthew’s party, but Jesus did.
Jesus quoted Hosea where the word says, “I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,” to a nation whose heart had grown cold and indifferent to others. The prophet Hosea had rebuked the Jewish nation, and in turn Jesus rebuked the religious leaders. Jesus also rebuked some of His followers who had never reached out to their friends and neighbors.
Jesus loves the rich, the criminal, those who wrong us, just as much as those who are poor and those who dwell in his presence.
Jesus loves the tax collector and sinners in our neighborhood and those downtown on the street. Jesus loves those who do not believe the Bible, and those who do.
Is there someone who has offended you? God wants you to love them just as Jesus loved the tax collector and sinners of His day. If there is someone you are struggling with, you start turning things around by confessing your sins to God first. Then thank Him for forgiving you. Then if that person knows that there is an issue between the two of you, go to that person and make things right.
God wants you to love even the tax collectors in your life! Who are we to decide whom Jesus can reach? Maybe it’s that person that we think is the least likely candidate that Jesus is waiting for. There is no one that has done so much, or gone so far, that Jesus won’t save them and make them His disciple if they will just leave everything to follow him.
If he called you and I, then Jesus can call anyone.
