New Testament · New Testament
Matthew (Levi)
“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. 'Follow me,' he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.”Matthew 9:9
Biography
Matthew, also called Levi, was a tax collector — one of the most despised occupations in Jewish society, associated with collaboration with Rome and extortion. Jesus called him from his tax booth with two words: 'Follow me.' Matthew immediately left everything and held a great banquet for Jesus, inviting all his tax collector friends. When the Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with sinners, Jesus replied: 'I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.' Matthew wrote the first Gospel, organized around five great discourses of Jesus.
Spiritual Lesson
Matthew's call is one of the most sudden conversions in Scripture — no argument, no sign, just two words and a life left behind. His immediate response reveals a heart that had perhaps been waiting for a different kind of call. His party for Jesus shows that new life in Christ overflows into community and celebration. And his Gospel — written by the most unlikely author — shows that God delights in recording his story through transformed outsiders.