After this, Jesus went out from there, [walking] along the shore of the lake.
The people kept coming to Him, and He continued to teach them. As He was walking
along, He saw a tax collector named Levi (Matthew), the son of Alpheus, seated
in the tax office; and Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” Matthew got up, and left
everything to follow Him.
(Mt. 9:9; Mk. 2:13-14; Lk. 5:27-28)
We read in this section of scripture, the third story in a row, which demonstrates Jesus’ reaction toward people not favorably considered by polite Palestinian society. The leper’s disease made him an outcast of society, not for bad behavior, but for who he was. The paralyzed man would have been looked down upon because he was, by virtue of his paralysis, a sinner, and therefore unworthy to associate with good people. This also would have been true for the leper, though, because of the nature of any leper’s illness, he or she was completely isolated from any normal human contact or association whatsoever.
This brings us to Levi, also called Matthew. The gospel tells us that he was the son of Alpheus. The gospel of Mark (3:18) tells us that James was also the son of one Alpheus, but there is no evidence that this was the same Alpheus, and that James and Matthew were brothers. Matthew was a publican, or tax collector. In our society, we often make jokes about tax collectors, and some people would raise their eyebrows in mock indignation upon meeting one. However, any negative thing you could say about a tax collector today would be nothing compared to the reputations they held in Palestine. They were universally hated, mostly not undeserved, due to the system the Romans installed to collect the taxes.
The position was auctioned off to the highest bidder from among the folk in the occupied territory. The new tax collector would make a contract with the Romans to collect specified sums, which varied by person and situation. The Romans did not pay the tax collector, but the tax collector received compensation by placing a surcharge on the taxes owed, which was completely unregulated by the Romans. The tax collector could charge whatever he wanted, and the people were forced to pay it (women weren’t allowed to be tax collectors). Some would even play both ends against the middle by accepting bribes from the rich and allowing them to avoid paying their taxes. Of course, this system lead to wholesale abuse, as the people had no recourse against the tax collector.
If that weren’t bad enough, to make matters even worse, not only did the tax collectors have a penchant for robbing the people blind thereby engendering their wrath, they were also considered traitors for aiding and abetting the occupying force–the Roman enemy. Tax collectors were so hated by the people they weren’t even allowed in the synagogue. They were not permitted even to worship with the rest of the community. They were placed in the same category with the unclean things, and were generally classed along with thieves and murderers. And it is with this reputation we find brother Matthew.
It was common practice for Rabbis to teach as they walked. Disciples would crowd around the teacher to listen as they also strolled forth. This day they were most likely on the outskirts of Capernaum, along one of the main roads that passed through the district. Capernaum was a border town between the territories of Herod Antipas, son of King Herod the Great, and his brother, Philip. Import and export taxes would have been collected here, as well as various duties and levies. Matthew would have been sitting at a tax collection tollbooth on the road, when Jesus came up to him.
Jesus had been gathering quite a reputation for Himself. By now, people from far and near sought Him out to listen to Him teach and to be healed. He would have been quite a celebrity by first century standards. And here Jesus was, walking right up to Matthew–the hated, dreaded tax collector. Surely, Matthew would have known Who He was–perhaps when he wasn’t working he had even gone to listen to Jesus teach, lagging behind the rest of the crowd hoping he wouldn’t be recognized. But now the Teacher stood before him with an invitation. “Follow Me!” Would Matthew have ever dreamed it possible that someone such as Jesus would extend an invitation to join Him? Here was the Man of God inviting him, Matthew, the despised tax collector, to join Him. How could that be?
We must wonder at the reaction of the crowd to Jesus’ invitation. Surely, some must have wondered why Jesus was reaching out to one of those people. There must have been an uproar and protests, and expressions of fear that Jesus’ actions could very well cause divisions. It isn’t hard to imagine that some in the crowd would have burst forth in righteous indignation demanding that Jesus walk away or they and their friends would split from the group. And I can just imagine Jesus turning to them and saying something like, “That’s too bad. We’ll miss you.” Because we do know that Jesus did not turn away from Matthew. Jesus would have looked into Matthew’s eyes and smiled, would have reached out His hand and said, “Follow Me.” Jesus would not have cared about what the crowd thought (as we will see later), any more than Jesus was earlier influenced by the religious leaders and their particular brand of scriptural interpretation.
Jesus knew Matthew’s heart, as well as the gifts Matthew would have to offer to all of humanity from that day forward, throughout history. When we think of the author of the first gospel, it would seem highly unlikely that one whose career choice made him so despised by his own people would be the choice of the Messiah of the world to be such a blessing to the world. But then, too, it would seem unlikely that men Jesus would nickname sons of thunder would be chosen to preach and teach love, or that a devoted prosecutor of the church, also chosen by Jesus, would ultimately write the bulk of the New Testament.
The invitation of Matthew to join Jesus’ group of closest confidants is thought by some scholars to have occurred around the end of Jesus’ first year of ministry, which started with a Passover. Another Passover approaches. A lot has happened during this time. After Jesus’ challenge of the moneychangers at the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus headed north to the area around the Galilee. Rejected by the people in His home town of Nazareth, Jesus moved to the area around Capernaum; where His reputation began to grow, even while that of John the Baptist decreased.
Now Jesus chose several of the disciples, who, during this early period, seemed to accompany Him only on a part-time basis. Traveling throughout the area of the Galilee Jesus began in earnest a ministry of teaching, preaching and healing. He also began incurring the wrath and opposition of the religious authorities, with the choice of Matthew, the tax collector, surely being particularly egregious. Jesus will continue to challenge the dogma of the religious authorities as He institutes the Law of Love and Inclusion as the true intention of God’s Will, and not the Law of Rite and Ritual.
Points to Ponder