Saint of the Week: St. Matthew
Image courtesy of The Catholic Company.
By Paul Manetto
Imagine being that guy. You know the one: the Broncos fan in a Raiders bar, the opera singer in a library, or the person who uses an Android in an Apple group chat. Back in the first century, St. Matthew was that guy.
The big thing about Matthew was that he was a tax collector. The same tax collector that literally everyone in the New Testament uses as an analogy for the worst of society (specifically 22 times). As a tax collector, you were not only a traitor, siding with Rome over your own people, but you also made your living, to put it delicately, by skimming off the top of your collections. Or, to put it less delicately, stealing other people’s money to support (and often massively enrich) yourself. So you can imagine the surprise when Jesus, returning home to Galilee, walks up to the booth Matthew would have been collecting taxes from and says simply, “Follow me,” to which Matthew got up and did exactly that. Although little is known about the social dynamic of the 12 Apostles, you can imagine that in a group of poor laborers, fishermen, and at least one zealot (a militaristic Jew who hated everything about Rome (i.e., Matthew), it would have been difficult for him to integrate into the group. He was a reminder of the oppressive regime hanging over their heads, and of the corruption and greed embodied by Rome. Yet Jesus said it best when He said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners,” not regarding Matthew as a lost cause, but embracing him as one of his closest friends.
After Jesus’ Ascension, Matthew became one of the four Gospel writers, choosing to publish his gospel in Aramaic, using his knowledge of Jewish culture to show Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises. From here, things begin to become blurred, but tradition says Matthew went either to Persia or Ethiopia, where he would eventually be martyred for his faith. Today, St. Matthew is a reminder of how God not only loves the undeserving but uses them to accomplish great things!
