St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
Dear friends in Christ. Today the western Church remembers St. Matthew. He, along with St. John, had the distinct privilege and blessing of being both one of Jesus’ apostles, one of the twelve, and also an Evangelist, one used by the Holy Spirit to write the account of our Lord’s life. Today’s Gospel reading is the account of Jesus calling Matthew to apostleship. This account is really all we know about St. Matthew for sure.
Comparing Matthew’s account of his calling with the account Mark and Luke give of it, we learn that Matthew’s name at first is Levi and his father’s name is Alphaeus. According to a Jewish custom, he changed his name at the occasion of an important event—here at his being called by Jesus to apostleship. Levi became Matthew—like Saul became Paul.
Matthew was not a “big name” among the 12, like Peter, James or John. He was quiet and never conspicuous; he was also very humble—as he refers to himself in his Gospel [Matthew 10.3] as Mathew, the tax collector. After Jesus’ ascension, Matthew is supposed to have preached in Palestine and later some say Matthew labored and was martyred in Persia, some others say Syria and Greece while others say it was in Ethiopia.
Matthew’s Gospel is very distinctive as it begins with the genealogy list showing Jesus’ descent from Abraham, that Jesus is the promised Descendant of Abraham, the Messiah; and he specifically cites 15 occasions where Jesus fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy. His purpose was to show that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is the fulfillment of God’s promises to His OT people.
Our text this morning is Jesus calling Matthew to be a disciple. As we examine our text we will see what is most comforting for us—Jesus does not spurn, reject or turn away from sinners but He comes and is in the midst of sinners.
1. Matthew uses one verse to describe the most powerful and dramatic event of his life: Jesus calling him to apostleship. As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he rose and followed Him. When Jesus comes, He comes now in grace and mercy. He did so to Matthew and our great joy and comfort is that He comes to us today in His grace as well. How much more clearly can Christ’s grace be seen than here? Matthew is sitting at the tax booth and that means that he was a tax collector. We know from Scripture that the tax collectors were looked down upon as being the lowest of the low. They were seen as traitors to their people—working for the hated Romans; and on top of that, most tax collectors were crooks, cheating people out of money by collecting more than the Romans required and then pocketing the difference. So that simple phrase, Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, shows us the Lord’s grace because there is no merit or worthiness in Matthew, nothing good in him, that would cause the Lord to stop and take notice of such a “righteous” man and cause Jesus to make such a holy/ pious man one of His disciples. Rather, it was the Lord’s grace that when He saw Matthew sitting there without any outward righteousness, without any merit or worthiness, that He called him “Follow Me”. Jesus wanted to give Matthew the gifts of the forgiveness of sins, righteousness and life—not because Matthew was so deserving but because he was so needy. And in a grace upon grace, not only did Jesus call Matthew to faith in Him but He called him to that special office as an apostle and one who would also be blessed to write a Gospel.
Dear Christian, how blessed St. Matthew was that day! But also how blessed we are! Although we aren’t called to be apostles or evangelists, the Lord still in grace saw us in our sin and our need; He saw us without any merit or worthiness “sitting at the tax booth”. And precisely because of our sin and our lack of anything good in us, Jesus came to us and said, “Follow Me”. For most of us, that was at the moment of baptism as the Lord took us sinners and by the water and word worked faith in our hearts, faith that trusts in Him and looks to Him as our Savior from sin and death, faith that follows Him. We do not and cannot first prepare ourselves for the Lord and then He first comes to us. Instead, He comes to us poor, miserable sinners–as He did Matthew that day— and gives us His grace and every blessing.
Notice how the Lord came and spoke to Matthew, personally and individually: Follow Me. This is the way the Lord always works even with us today; He comes to us personally and individually and says Follow Me. By His word, Jesus created faith in Him in Matthew’s heart so that Matthew rose and followed Him. What more beautiful way is this seen than in Holy Baptism where Jesus comes to each one in the water and word? At your baptism Jesus came to you, worked faith in Him in your heart—so that you rose and followed Him; there He washed away your sin, covered you with His perfect holiness and made you a member of His Church. Just as Matthew treasured that day that Jesus came to Him in the tax booth, so treasure the day Jesus came to you in the waters of Holy Baptism. What a great joy and comfort for us—Jesus in the midst of us sinners.
What power the Lord’s word, Follow Me, had on Matthew! By the power of and led by the Holy Spirit who created that faith in Matthew’s heart to believe on Christ, Matthew rose and followed Him. St. Luke [Luke 5.28] adds a detail that Matthew—perhaps out of his humility left out—and [Matthew] left all, rose up and followed Him.
By his leaving everything, there was a tremendous sacrifice on Matthew’s part. In other words, when Jesus—in grace—comes in the midst of sinners that coming is never without result. Here Matthew, led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, makes that complete break with the past: and [Matthew] left all. He was no longer a tax collector taking more than he needed to. For Matthew, following Jesus would require a huge financial loss—leaving everything behind.
But he would now follow Christ and carry out a new way of life. Matthew would now be one who would always hear Christ preaching and see that preaching being confirmed by the miracles. Jesus was preparing Matthew for service as an apostle, one which would end up taking him who knows where and one which would end up in his martyrdom. In all this, Matthew was always assured of our Lord’s grace.
As a tax collector, Matthew knew very well the power of money: the comfort it could bring, the recreation it could buy, the luxury it could provide. Yet money could never give true inner peace. It can’t buy forgiveness or love. Only Christ could give all this. Matthew’s financial loss was his spiritual gain. What Matthew sacrificed—wealth and all it brings—was by the Lord’s grace far offset by the spiritual gain. As the Lord, in grace, led Matthew to recognize this, may He too lead us to recognize the futility and emptiness of looking to money and possessions; may we reject the materialism around us and follow Christ, finding in Him our all in all and so experience great spiritual gain.
Our text continues: And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. Again, probably in his humility, Matthew leaves out what Sts. Mark and Luke include—it was his house in which was the feast where Jesus was with the tax collectors and sinners. Matthew threw the party—it was, if a will, a “meet and greet” with Jesus. Matthew wanted his old acquaintances to come and meet Jesus and to experience the blessings of forgiveness, peace and joy that he now had in Christ. He wanted them to come into contact with Jesus. These many tax collectors and sinners knew why they were invited—that Jesus might free them from their sin. What joy Matthew had in the Lord and that’s the joy he wanted others to experience. That’s why Matthew here and we today do mission work, tell others the good news about Jesus. And in grace upon grace, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and His disciples, that is, Jesus is in the midst of sinners. Just as He went to the tax booth of Matthew to call him, so He goes to where there are sinners that He might call them to the one true saving faith.
2. Since Matthew threw this great feast for sinners to meet Jesus, is it any wonder that the Holy Spirit used Matthew to write a Gospel account of our Lord? Don’t we through the Gospel word come to meet Jesus? So who better than St. Matthew, who in grace had this joy and spark, to write that Gospel account? In a sense, we, and all people down through the ages who have read or heard St. Matthew’s Gospel are, as it were, at this great feast, at this “meet and greet” with Jesus that St. Matthew threw. By the Gospel, we are meeting Jesus. And what is the glorious thing for us— many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and His disciples—that is, Jesus is still in the midst of sinners! As His word goes out, Jesus comes to us to work faith in Him in our hearts to receive the gifts and blessings He won for us on the cross and now offers us in His word.
Hear again our text: And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. Think of the scene—a house, a table that is gathered around, Jesus at that table, a whole bunch of sinners there—doesn’t that sound like church? Like what goes on here?
The church is the house, the Lord’s house. We are all here gathered around the table of the altar. The disciples are here, that is, not only through their writings that we read, but they are part of all the company of heaven. And what else? The main thing—Jesus is in the midst of sinners!
That’s why we’re here in church—because we’re sinners! Many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. Unlike so many people think, we are not in church because we are good and pious. Instead, we are in church because we are sinners and Jesus is in the midst of sinners giving them grace, forgiveness, spiritual refreshment. Our text: 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. Just like at Matthew’s feast—Jesus is in the midst of sinners not because they are so worthy but because He is merciful and they need His mercy.
We are in church because we recognize our sin, our true spiritual condition as poor, miserable sinners who need the forgiveness that Jesus gives—and He gives it to us because He is here in our midst. As we are gathered around Him, He gives us the forgiveness of sin in the absolution. As His holy word is read and preached, there, too He gives us the forgiveness of sin. On top of that Jesus eat[s] with tax collectors and sinners, in a wonderful/ miraculous way here in church. Here He gives us in the Blessed Sacrament the feast of His body and blood for forgiveness. We are in church because we are in need of a physician, One who can heal us from our sin and refresh us—that’s what He does in the Sacrament. As we are weary and heavy laden [Matthew 11.28] with sins, with temptations and fear, that is, as we recognize our spiritual weakness/sickness we come here for consolation and strengthening of faith—that’s what Jesus does in the Sacrament. He can and does do this because like He was with Matthew’s day, Jesus is in the midst of sinners. INJ Amen.