Matthew 9:9 – 13 “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.10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
IT WAS A SCANDAL LIKE NO OTHER!!! Capernaum was abuzz with excitement! That morning Jesus had already healed Eli the paralytic and forgiven his sins, shocking the teachers of the law in the process. Then, as Jesus was walking on down the main street of Capernaum, he saw Levi the tax collector. Levi was collecting duties on imported goods brought by farmers, merchants, and caravans. Under the Roman Empire’s system, Levi would have paid all the taxes in advance, then collected from the citizens and travelers to reimburse himself. Tax collectors were notoriously corrupt because they extorted far and above what was owed, to ensure their personal profit. Because their decisions were enforced by Roman soldiers, no one dared object.
Now Jesus was walking boldly right up to this tool of Roman oppression and saying ….what? “Jesus, are you really inviting this criminal to be your disciple? Don’t you know who he is and what he does?” Yes, Jesus knew Levi, knew him down to the soles of his fancy sandals. But Jesus also knew something else about Levi: Levi had an intense hunger for God that he had been trying to satisfy with money. Jesus didn’t make any elaborate speeches or arguments; all he said to Levi was “Follow me.” And Levi got up and followed. That day, Levi’s life changed so radically that he even changed his own name. The name Levi meant “joined” or “attached” and was a traditional Jewish name. But that day Levi changed so much that he re-named himself “Matthew.” “Matthew” is a contraction of “Mattathias” and means “God’s gift.” Levi/Matthew wanted to signal to everybody that he was no longer attached to money but that he was now following God.
On the same day Jesus invited Matthew to follow him, Matthew threw a great farewell feast in his home in Capernaum, inviting his friends so they could meet Jesus too. From that time on, instead of collecting tax money, Matthew collected souls for Christ.
Despite his sinful past, Matthew was uniquely qualified to be a disciple. He was an accurate record keeper and keen observer of people. He captured the smallest details. Those traits served him well when he wrote the Gospel of Matthew some 20 years later.
By surface appearances, it was scandalous and offensive for Jesus to pick a tax collector as one of his closest followers since they were widely hated by the Jews. Yet of the four Gospel writers, Matthew presented Jesus to the Jews as their hoped-for Messiah, tailoring his account to answer their questions. Matthew displayed one of the most radically changed lives in the Bible in response to an invitation from Jesus. He did not hesitate; he did not look back. He left behind a life of wealth and security for poverty and uncertainty. He abandoned the pleasures of this world for the promise of eternal life.
Today, are you like Levi? To what are you attached? Wealth? Fame? Power? Position? A comfortable life style? A profession? Security? As I am writing this devotional, the Covid-19 virus is upsetting economies and societies all over the world. People who thought they had everything figured out now are panicking, wondering what is going to happen next.
Levi made the wisest choice possible; he detached himself from the money he thought he needed and attached himself to Jesus as Matthew the Disciple. Today, each of us has a choice: to turn and follow Jesus or to continue to try to fill a God – sized hole in our hearts with things that can never satisfy. What will you choose?
PRAYER: Father God, today we are afraid! We hear so much terrible news about the Covid – 19 pandemic and we wonder what will happen next. But Father, you are the only One who can really give us security. Help us to leave these other things that we have been trusting and put our trust totally in you. In the mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.
Source of information regarding Matthew: https://www.learnreligions.com/matthew-tax-collector-and-apostle-701067
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