St Matthew, 1st century, apostle and evangelist
There is a fitting irony that Matthew, a Jew, who was a tax collector
for the Romans and accused of being a traitor to his own people, should
in his Gospel portray Jesus as the messiah, the fulfillment of all God's
promises to the Jews.
Matthew "the tax collector"
In the list of the apostles (Matt 10:3) Matthew is called "the tax collector".
Jesus saw him sitting by the customs house in Capernaum and said to
him "Follow me".
And leaving everything, he got up and followed him (Mt
9:9). Mark (2:14) and Luke (5:27-32) call him Levi when they describe
this event.
As a Roman tax collector, the people would regarded Matthew as an
exploiter and collaborator with the Romans, in that sense a traitor to
his people. And so when Jesus and other disciples were at dinner at
Matthew's house, the scribes and Pharisees taunt the disciples, "Why
does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
Mercy, not sacrifice
Jesus uses that occasion to declare the core message of his mission and of the gospel:
"It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick.Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners."
Matthew's gospel
St. Matthew's gospel has pride
of place in the canon of the New Testament. Its purpose was to convince
Jews that the Messiah had come in the person of Jesus, our Lord, and
that all the promises of the messianic kingdom, the promises God made to
his people the Jews, had been fulfilled in him. There is a fitting
irony in this for one who was accused of being a traitor to his people.
His name means "gift of the Lord".
Later life
Little definite is known about
Matthew's later life. Legend has it that he preached the gospel for a
long time after the ascension and carried it to Ethiopia where he was
killed.
Patronage
Matthew is the patron of bankers and those who work in finiancial institutions.