Call of St Matthew

St Matthew Chapter IX : Verses 9-13

Contents

• Matt. ix. 9-13 Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Notes on the text

Matt. ix. 9-13

The Call of Matthew. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

9 And when Jesus passed on from hence, he saw a man sitting in the custom house, named Matthew; and he saith to him: Follow me. And he rose up and followed him.

Et, cum transiret inde Jesus, vidit hominem sedentem in telonio, Matthæum nomine. Et ait illi : Sequere me. Et surgens, secutus est eum.

10 And it came to pass as he was sitting at meat in the house, behold many publicans and sinners came, and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.

Et factum est, discumbente eo in domo, ecce multi publicani et peccatores venientes, discumbebant cum Jesu, et discipulis ejus.

11 And the Pharisees seeing it, said to his disciples: Why doth your master eat with publicans and sinners?

Et videntes pharisæi, dicebant discipulis ejus : Quare cum publicanis et peccatoribus manducat magister vester?

12 But Jesus hearing it, said: They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill.

At Jesus audiens, ait : Non est opus valentibus medicus, sed male habentibus.

13 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.

Euntes autem discite quid est : Misericordiam volo, et non sacrificium. Non enim veni vocare justos, sed peccatores.

Notes

    Note. — 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.

    The Annotations are based on the hypothesis, accepted by the Catholic Church, that Levi the publican is to be identified with St Matthew the apostle.

    9. Jesus 'passed on from thence. From the house in Capharnaum to the seashore. Cf. he went forth again to the seaside^ and all the multitude came to him, and he taught them,. ’And when he was passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the receipt of custom (St Mark ii. 13, 14).

    All three Syuoptists place the call of Levi immediately after the healing of the paralytic.

    sitting in the custom-house. Therefore Levi was one of the despised class of publicans, classed by the Jews with harlots, heathens, and sinners. The custom-house was the tollhouse where taxes on exports and imports were levied. Capharnaum was a thriving business town, whence roads to Tyre, Damascus, and Jerusalem, etc. branched off.

    named Matthew. Before his call to the apostleship he was known as Levi. (In like manner, Simon received the name of Peter, and Saul’s name was changed to Paul.) His father’s name was Alpheus, who is not the same as Alpheus, father of 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 are coupled.

    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.

    he rose up, etc. St Luke adds, leaving all things he rose up, etc. This proves that Levi became an apostle. Note his prompt obedience and freedom from human respect.

    10. sitting at meat. From the parallel passages we learn that Levi made our Lord a great feast in his own house : and there was a great company of publicans, and of others, that were at table with him (St Luke V. 29).

    St Matthew modestly relates the event without mentioning that he himself was the host. As St Matthew gave our Lord a great feast (literally, a great reception or banquet), which required certain preparations, doubtless it did not take place on the same day that he was called to follow Christ.

    publicans and sinners. “ The new disciple seeks to bring his old friends and Jesus together. It is his first missionary effort.”

    11. the Pharisees seeing it, etc. Both the Pharisees and Scribes murmured. St Mark adds : Seeing that he ate with publicans and sinners (ii. 16). These Pharisees did not, of course, sit down and eat 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.

    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, or they might have thought to inspire them with distrust of Christ.

    Why doth your master, etc. ? In St Luke the question is, Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners ? but both St Matthew and St Mark quote the question as referring to Jesus : Why doth your master, etc. ? Here we see that several Pharisees put the same question in different forms. Both Jesus and His disciples were at table.

    12. They that are in health, etc. A popular saying. The Pharisees, as regards legal observances, were “ in health ” and just, but interiorly they were further from the kingdom of God than the ill-famed publicans.

    13. Go then and learn. The Scribes had come to teach others, but Jesus bids them first go and learn. This was a common rabbinical expression, used by a master to draw the attention of his disciples to a special subject.

    I will have mercy, etc. Jesus bids them learn the true meaning of the Scriptures which they professed to teach. This is a quotation from Osee vi. 6. The negation is evidently not absolute, since God Himself commanded the Jews to offer sacrifices ; but the meaning is that, when an alternative is in question, and one or the other must be chosen, then God prefers mercy. This confirms the teaching of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount : Be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift. Jesus explains His mission as Saviour of men.

    the just. 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.

    but sinners. Three incidents which St Matthew relates in close connection confirm this statement, i.e. —

    (а) Jesus heals leprosy, a type of sin.

    (b) He pardons the paralytic and heals him.

    (c) He calls a publican to follow Him.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.