The events as told in the book of Matthew are told from his own perspective. In this version of the story, Jesus was passing by and it says that He saw a man named Matthew (Matthew means a gift from God). Jesus simply says to Matthew, "Follow Me." and Matthew arose and followed Him.
We get a better understanding of what actually transpired from Luke's perspective. According to Luke, Matthew's name was actually Levi, a name that would remind him of the tribe that was not permitted to be part of the Lord's inheritance for the 12 sons of Israel. They lost their right to the inheritance by their disobedience to the Lord. We also learn from Luke that Levi was a tax collector. The fact that Levi was a tax collector would mean that he would be hated by the Jewish people. He was probably wealthy since the tax collectors of that time overcharged the people and kept the difference after they gave their required amount to the Romans. Luke shares one more piece of information that Matthew left out in his gospel. Levi left all that he had to follow after Jesus.
We have two slightly different accounts yet they are very significant to those who "follow" after Christ. Matthew's gospel includes one small line that Luke leaves out when Jesus responds to the Pharisees who question Him at Matthew's feast for Him. He adds:
Matt 9:13 "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice'."
Jesus was quoting from Hosea 6:6. This is important because Matthew's gospel gives us Jesus' perspective of how He viewed Matthew. The way Jesus viewed Matthew was merciful. He was a Jewish man who was not living as he should. He was considered a huge sinner by the people and was hated, yet Jesus names him "gift from God". Jesus saw him as a man, not a tax collector. There is no mention of the fact that he left all he had to follow after Jesus. We see the merciful side of Jesus, not the sacrifice from Matthew.
Luke gives us the perspective on how the world viewed Matthew. They saw him as Levi, a tax collector, a hated figure. We see the focus on the sacrifice he made by giving up all that he had to follow Jesus but Jesus tells us He desires mercy, not sacrifice.
Our Pastor brought this a little closer to home by asking us how we view "sinners". Do we see non-Christians as men and "gifts from God" or do we see them as tax collectors who need to give up all they have to go after Jesus?
Often, Christians (and I am as guilty of this as anyone) forget that we are nothing more than big huge sinners ourselves who just happened to have accepted God's free gift of salvation. It is nothing that we have done or by any sacrifice we have made. Ephesians 2:8 tells us that we are saved by God's grace alone through faith and not of our own works. We cannot boast about our salvation because we did not do anything to deserve it. Jesus is the one who made the ultimate sacrifice by taking our place on the cross and taking God's wrath for us though we deserved it.
It is easy to become like the Pharisees and give thanks that we are not like the horrible sinners in the world who do not know Jesus when in reality, it was the Pharisees to whom Jesus spoke the harshest words.
When questioned by the Pharisees about eating with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus said that he did not come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance. He ate with them, he associated Himself with them. However, He was not change by them and did not become like them but they became like Him. They turned from their sinful ways and followed after Him. What are we like when we hang around "sinners"? Do we start acting like them or do we bring them to Jesus as Matthew did?
As Christians, we need to be careful to remember where our salvation comes from. It is all about Him and not about us.
1 comments:
Hmmm, that's one way to interpret it. Another simply is, "Levi" was his name in Hebrew (which was the language of Jews he collected taxes from, and "Matthew" was his name in Greek. It only makes sense because he was a tax collector that worked for Greek speaking Romans. It could have just been a language thing. Kinda like how we would call someone named Jose, George. The only thing is, if I were him, I would go by "Levi" instead of "Matthew" because it would remind me too much of the cruel Romans and the horrible job he had with them.
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