The call of St Matthew

St Mark Chapter II : Verses 13-17

The calling of St Matthew. J-J Tissot.

[13] And he went forth again to the sea side; and all the multitude came to him, and he taught them. 

[14] And when he was passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the receipt of custom; and he saith to him: Follow me. And rising up, he followed him. 

[15] And it came to pass, that as he sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat down together with Jesus and his disciples. For they were many, who also followed him.
[16] And the scribes and the Pharisees, seeing that he ate with publicans and sinners, said to his disciples: Why doth your master eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 

[17] Jesus hearing this, saith to them: They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners.

 

[13] Et egressus est rursus ad mare, omnisque turba veniebat ad eum, et docebat eos. [14] Et cum praeteriret, vidit Levi Alphæi sedentem ad telonium, et ait illi : Sequere me. Et surgens secutus est eum. [15] Et factum est, cum accumberet in domo illius, multi publicani et peccatores simul discumbebant cum Jesu et discipulis ejus : erant enim multi, qui et sequebantur eum.
[16] Et scribæ et pharisæi videntes quia manducaret cum publicanis et peccatoribus, dicebant discipulis ejus : Quare cum publicanis et peccatoribus manducat et bibit Magister vester? [17] Hoc audito Jesus ait illis : Non necesse habent sani medico, sed qui male habent : non enim veni vocare justos, sed peccatores.

Notes

13. He went forth, from the home in Capharnaum to the sea-shore.

14. Levi. This was St Matthew’s name before his call to the Apostle- ship. In like manner, Simon received the name of Peter, and Saul’s name was changed to Paul.
son of Alpheus. Not the same as Alpheus the father of St James the Less. In the lists of the Apostles, St Matthew and St James the Less are never classed together, whereas in the case of Apostles who were brothers, the names follow one another.

receipt of custom. The toll-house where taxes on exports and imports were levied. Capharnaum was a thriving business town, whence roads to Tyre, Damascus and Jerusalem, etc., branched off.
sitting at the receipt of custom. Therefore Levi was one of the despised class of publicans, classed by the Jews with harlots, heathens and sinners. (See Publicans, below.)
Follow me. Jesus called Levi in spite of his position and bad reputation. It is probable that Levi had previously heard of, or witnessed our Lord’s miracles, and also listened to His discourses, since Jesus had already wrought mighty works in and near Capharnaum.

15. as he sat at meat in his house. St Luke tells us that Levi made him a great feast in his own house ; and there was a great company of publicans and of others, that were at table with them (St Luke v. 29). It was doubtless a farewell banquet to his old friends, publicans and sinners.

16. seeing that he ate , etc. These Pharisees would not, of course, have sat down and eaten with Levi and his friends, for this would have rendered them “ unclean ” according to their traditions. They merely came in, as the Oriental custom permitted, to watch the feast. sinners. Lax Jews, not necessarily Gentiles.
said to his disciples. They may have feared to address our Lord directly, or thought it would be easy to triumph over His disciples, whom they knew to be poor, ignorant men.

17. I came not to call, etc. Jesus explains that He frequented sinners that He might convert them, just as a physician visits the sick that he may heal them.
to call the just, said ironically to the Pharisees who were “just” in their own estimation. Also Jesus was always ready to leave the ninety-nine that He might seek the sheep that was lost.

Additional Notes

14. he saw Levi. St Matthew gives, he saw a man . . . . named Matthew (ix. 9). The question is, did our Lord call both Matthew and Levi, or are these two names of one person ? Christian tradition has generally held that Matthew and Levi are one and the same, for it is not probable that our Lord would have called two publicans under exactly the same circumstances, and that each should have made a banquet for our Lord. Yet Matthew the publican and Levi the publican are both mentioned, and called to follow Jesus. The explanation probably is, that St Matthew calls himself a publican out of humility, whereas the other Evangelists refrain from using the term out of charity, since publicans had such a bad reputation.

17. I came not to call the just, etc. In St Matthew’s gospel, and peculiar to him, these words are prefaced by a quotation (Osee vi. 6), used by our Lord, “ Go, then, and learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (St Matt. ix. 13). In these words our Lord does not condemn sacrifice, but He shews His preference for mercy ; and hence He brings home to the Pharisees more and more the characteristic note of His divine teaching.

Publicans

The Publicans were men who farmed the revenues for the Romans. They were of two classes. The Publicani proper, who were generally wealthy Romans, belonging to the Equestrian order. These men formed a kind of joint-stock company, and they farmed the taxes directly for the government, to which they paid a given sum and endeavoured to make as much as possible out of the provinces they farmed. These Publicans divided the provinces into different districts, and employed agents to do the actual work of collecting. These agents were called “ portitores ” ; they purchased from the Roman knights the right to collect the taxes by giving them a certain sum, which was supposed to be about the value of the assessment. In their turn the portitores endeavoured to get a good interest on the money they had advanced, which was often exorbitant, since the office was sold by auction. Hence they were universally detested by the Jews, because they enriched themselves at the expense of their brethren by most unjust means. Their insolence in collecting the tax was equalled by their rapacity, and they caused great delay and vexation, by continually stopping travellers and obliging them to unpack their goods. The Jews refused to marry into a family of which any member was a Publican, and they had a proverb which ran thus : “ Bears and lions are the fiercest wild beasts in the forests, but publicans and informers are the worst in the cities.’’  No Publican was admitted as witness in a court of justice, and no true Jew might ask or accept alms from a Publican. They were numbered with harlots, sinners, robbers and murderers. In the time of Cæsar the taxes were collected by government officials ; this was certainly an amelioration for the people, but the tax-gatherers were as much disliked as ever, since they held office directly under the Romans. Matthew, or Levi, was a publican before he became an apostle.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.