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Matthew....
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"As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man
called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and He said to him, "Follow Me."
And he rose and followed Him. And as He sat at table in the house, behold,
many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with
Jesus and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to
His disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and
sinners?" But when He heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need
of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I
desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners." (Matthew 9:9-13 RSV)
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Matthew was chosen by Jesus Christ to be one of The
Twelve Apostles. As the Scriptures above indicate, from Matthew's own
Gospel, Matthew was not a particularly well-liked man, but regarded among
"the tax collectors and sinners." Matthew was a publican (see Custom and
Tribute), who was stationed on the main road between Damascus and
Capernaum,
where he collected "toll" from farmers or merchants who were transporting
their merchandise (e.g. Barley, Figs, wheat, Olives, wool) through Galilee.
Since Jesus lived in Capernaum, on the north shore of The
Sea Of Galilee,
after He left Nazareth, the sight of Matthew would probably have been well
familiar to Him. |
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At that time, tax collectors often operated on their own,
after having paid an annual fee to the governing authorities (in Matthew's
case, The Herods). They then collected everything that they could possibly
get away with from the public who had no legal recourse. That, along with
the fact that many were outright corrupt in their dealings, made them very
much disliked. They were however, due to the nature of their profession,
very good and accurate record-keepers. In a then generally illiterate world,
this skill made them a natural choice for recording a Gospel account - which
is exactly what Matthew later did. |
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Despite all of the information that he has provided
about the life of Jesus Christ, Matthew gives us very little information
about himself, except his profession and joining Christ. The other
Gospel
writers also make little mention of him, other than his inclusion among
the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:3,
Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15 and
Acts 1:13). |
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