Pastor John,
I am just curious about something. What would have been the perks for Matthew to be a tax collector? It must have been hard for him to have everyone hate him. I would think he was not forced by Rome to do it; otherwise, the Jews would not have hated him, but would have just blamed Rome. I am getting that from them saying Jesus sat with tax collectors and sinners. So there must have been something that drew him to be a tax collector. I feel like I know a lot more about Paul than I do Matthew.
It made me think that Matthew might have been somewhat prepared for the persecution after Jesus touched him because he was familiar with being hated. Or not.
Beth D.
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Hi, Beth.
Matthew could have been drawn to being a tax collector in order to have a steady income. WE don’t know. If so, there were many in Israel who was like him in that regard. The devoutly nationalistic Jews would have looked down on Matthew for “working with the enemy”, and Jesus had such a Jew as a disciple. Simon the Canaanite, it appears, belonged to a group whose goal was to drive the hated Romans out of the holy land (hence, “the Canaanite”). That Jesus was able to have a tax collector and a Canaanite as disciples at the same time says a lot about their hearts and his power.
You are right in saying that we know far less about Matthew than about Paul. There is nothing we can do about that. But hopefully, Jesus will let us meet Matthew one day and find out what history was.
Pastor John