Matthew

Matthew, also called Levi, was a tax collector before becoming one of the twelve apostles, a profession that made him deeply unpopular among his fellow Jews, since tax collectors worked for Rome and were widely regarded as traitors and extortionists.

Matthew 9:9 records his calling with striking brevity: Jesus sees him sitting at the tax collector's booth and simply says, "follow me." Matthew's response is immediate, he rises and follows without recorded hesitation, leaving behind a lucrative but socially despised profession.

Matthew celebrates his calling by hosting a large dinner at his own house, inviting many other tax collectors and people considered sinners by respectable society, along with Jesus and His disciples, a gathering that draws sharp criticism from religious leaders who question why Jesus would associate with such company.

Jesus' response to this criticism becomes one of His most quoted statements of purpose: "they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick... I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance," a direct defense of His choice to spend time with people others had written off.

Matthew is traditionally credited as the author of the Gospel bearing his name, a Gospel notably structured around demonstrating Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, appropriate given Matthew's likely deep familiarity with Jewish Scripture and expectation.

Matthew's Gospel includes extensive teaching material, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, and pays careful attention to genealogy and fulfilled prophecy, details that would have been especially significant to Matthew's likely primary audience of Jewish believers.

Beyond his calling and his Gospel, Scripture records comparatively little additional detail about Matthew's specific activities as an apostle, though church tradition holds he continued preaching after Jesus' resurrection, with various traditions describing ministry extending well beyond Judea.

Matthew's story, from a profession that made him a social outcast to becoming one of the twelve and the author of a Gospel still read by millions, illustrates Jesus' consistent pattern of calling and transforming people others had already dismissed as beyond redemption.