Call of Matthew

41 – Call of Matthew, Matthew 9:9; Mark 2:13-14; Luke 5:27-28

Matthew 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He *said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

Mark 2:13 And He went out again by the seashore; and all the [a]people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them. 14 As He passed by, He saw [b]Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He *said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

Luke 5:27 After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named [a]Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.

Footnotes (Mark)

a. Mark 2:13 Lit crowd

b. Mark 2:14 also called Matthew

Footnotes (Luke)

Luke 5:27 Also called Matthew

Commentary

As we read these passages, the first part of this event seems to be the setting detailed by Mark. As we recall from Mark 1:45 and Mark 2:2, Jesus was unable to make His way around in the city anymore, so He had to find alternative places to teach. Enter the seashore. At some point, while He is moving about between teaching and necessities of life, such as eating and sleeping, He comes across a tax collector.

Tax collectors of the day were a despised group of traitors to their race who were employed by the Roman government to collect and submit taxes to remote government headquarters, with no restrictions on the overcharges they could collect for their own income. Therefore, unscrupulous agents could extort untold sums with the support of the government behind them. “Tax collectors collaborated with the enemy; in fact, they became the real enemy because the people did not actually see the government of Herod and Rome” (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol 4 pg. 122). There were many types of taxes, the most lucrative of which were the customs or duties levied on goods being imported, exported, or transported through an area (since many of these taxes were charged to foreigners who had no way of knowing what standard charges were). In the King James translation, it says Matthew was at the “receipt of custom”, which was a “toll booth in the street where tax collectors sat to receive various taxes” (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1193). This indicates Matthew was almost certainly involved in the highway robbery that was duty taxation, and the fact that he and other tax collectors are counted among “harlots, thieves and murderers, not only by Biblical writers but by secular writers as well (Matt. 21:31, 32; Mark 2:15, 16; Luke 5:30; Cicero, De Officiis, I. 42)”, is no surprise (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol 4 pg. 122). Also, because of their purpose to catch people coming or going, they would have likely stationed themselves at the perimeter of the city.

The tax collector Jesus saw is the disciple we have come to know as Matthew, although both Mark and Luke refer to him here as Levi. As you may know, the authorship of many of the books of the Bible is uncertain, and the book of Matthew is no exception. Some scholars use Matthew 9:9 and 10:3 as support for the idea that Matthew authored the gospel attributed to him, especially since the book of Matthew refers to this disciple as Matthew (and specifically in 10:3, as Matthew the tax collector), whereas the other gospel writers refer to him as Levi when they recount Jesus’s commission (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol 4 pg. 122). Also, in the passage we will study next week, Matthew says Jesus was “in the house”, which would have been stated differently if Jesus had been in someone’s house, other than the author’s. Tradition has long held Matthew as the author, and as an infrequently recorded supporting character in the story of Jesus’s ministry, his history in the book of Matthew is his primary lasting legacy.

In addition to his identity as a tax collector, Matthew may also have been the brother of another disciple – James, son of Alphaeus. Compare Mark 2:14 to Matthew 10:3, referenced below. Both men are listed as “son of Alphaeus”. Arguments against this conclusion are that Alphaeus was a common name, and the two men are never referred to as brothers, whereas James and John are regularly called brothers. However, Matthew and James, son of Alphaeus, are still listed right next to each other in the list of disciples in Matthew 10:3, as are the other brothers in the list. While it’s not a critical theological point whether or not we know these two men were brothers, I did want to point out the possibility because the call of Matthew is another one that may seem abrupt, as if Matthew dropped everything to follow a stranger. If, however, he had been exposed to Jesus’s teaching in advance and had a zealous brother (similarly to the way Peter had Andrew), he would have been much more inclined to follow Jesus, whose legitimacy had already been proven to him. However, as I said, it is not a critical point of theology, and Matthew certainly would have been exposed to Jesus in at least some capacity because of His overwhelming fame.

As Jesus encountered Matthew, He said “follow me.” The verb tense used in Mark for “follow me” is a tense which implies an ongoing action. This was not an errand, but a lifestyle change which required Matthew to leave a government position and substantial wealth (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1241). Matthew was willing, and is not only counted among the twelve disciples, but is also believed to possibly have been martyred by stabbing in Egypt, after having devoted many years to international missions and to writing his account of Jesus’s time on Earth.

The book of Matthew has a unique approach to the gospel story, in that its purpose seems to be to offer credible proof of Jesus’s messiahship to the Jews. In keeping with that purpose, I thought I would take a moment to expand on support for the reliability of the New Testament accounts for today’s reader. Below is a chart adapted from “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist” by Norm Geisler and Frank Turek. This chart demonstrates the historicity of the New Testament writings, from the perspective of historical and archeological validation.

Furthermore, in terms of the New Testament writings validated by secular history, the events match up quite well. As far as the existence of a person named Jesus, that fact is well-documented. Geisler and Turek also have this to say about proof of Jesus’s existence:

“Just how many non-Christian sources are there that mention Jesus? Including Josephus, there are ten known non-Christian writers who mention Jesus within 150 years of his life. By contrast, over the same 150 years, there are nine non-Christian sources who mention Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor at the time of Jesus. So discounting all the Christian sources, Jesus is actually mentioned by one more source than the Roman emperor. If you include the Christian sources, authors mentioning Jesus outnumber those mentioning Tiberius 43 to 10!” (I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, pg. 222).

Consider the overwhelming number of Christian writings about Jesus, as compared to the secular writings. Many people might discount the credibility of Christian writings because of their bias. However, I would ask whether it makes Jesus more or less credible that most everyone who came in contact with Him was compelled to believe in Him. As an analogy, there are some people who believe the 1969 moon landing was a giant hoax. However, the vast majority of the world believes NASA is telling the truth and that the evidence is consistent with an actual moon landing. You may find some volumes that agree there was a rocket that took off, as well as astronauts named Armstrong and Aldrin, and even photographs (supposedly doctored). While they support a few of the facts, they do not support the conclusion that a moon landing occurred. However, on the whole, our history books promote the idea that Americans walked on the moon. Are the vast majority of history books invalid because of their bias toward the reality of a moon landing, or does it make the account more credible that most sources agree this momentous event took place?

Likewise with the supernatural presence and power of Jesus. If we see so many stories of people who were not believers encountering Jesus and then coming to faith – a faith that compelled them to create a written record and later to die for their beliefs – are they less believable because there are so many more converts than skeptics among the authors of Jesus’s history? Or does it rather create mounting evidence that real, sane people met Jesus, witnessed His miracles, teaching, death, and resurrection, and were rightly awed and persuaded of His deity?

See the next post here https://onthepath.online/2019/11/08/banquet-at-matthews-house/

Scripture References

Matthew 9:9

Ezra 4:13 Let it now be known to the king that if that city is rebuilt and its walls are restored, they will not pay tribute, duty, or toll, and the royal treasury will suffer.

Matthew 8:22 But Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Matthew 9:10 Later, as Jesus was dining at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples.

Matthew 10:3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

Mark 3:18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot,

Luke 5:29 Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors was there, along with others who were eating with them.

Luke 6:15 Matthew and Thomas, James son of Alphaeus and Simon called the Zealot,

Acts 1:13 When they arrived, they went to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

Mark 2:13

Matthew 13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.

Mark 1:45 But the man went out and openly began to proclaim and spread the news. Consequently, Jesus could no longer enter a town in plain view, but He stayed out in solitary places. Yet people came to Him from every quarter.

Mark 2:2 they gathered in such large numbers that there was no more room, not even outside the door, as Jesus spoke the word to them.

Mark 4:1 Once again, Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and such a large crowd gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people crowded along the shore.

Mark 10:1 Then Jesus left that place and went into the region of Judea, beyond the Jordan. Again the crowds came to Him and He taught them, as was His custom.

Mark 2:14

Matthew 8:22 But Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Mark 2:15 While Jesus was dining at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples–for there were many who followed Him.

Luke 5:27

Matthew 10:3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

Luke 5:28

Luke 5:11 And when they had brought their boats ashore, they left everything and followed Him.

Luke 5:29 Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors was there, along with others who were eating with them.