Matthew first appears in the story sitting at a tax booth. That detail matters. In the world of first-century Judea and Galilee, tax collectors were not usually admired as public servants. They were often associated with Roman power, financial pressure, and social suspicion. Whether every tax collector was personally corrupt is not the point. The point is that Matthew’s profession placed him in a category many religious people looked at with distrust. And that is exactly where Jesus found him.
Matthew 9:9 gives the scene with almost shocking simplicity: Jesus sees a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post and says, “Follow me.” Matthew gets up and follows. No dramatic speech. No long argument. No attempt to explain away his past. Just a call from Christ and a response from Matthew. Luke’s version of the parallel story says that Levi “left everything” and followed Jesus. That is one of the reasons many Christians have understood Matthew and Levi to be the same person.
This Matthew-Levi question is worth handling carefully. In Matthew’s Gospel, the man at the tax booth is called Matthew. In Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27, the tax collector in the parallel call story is called Levi. The stories are so closely related that many Christians and scholars identify them as the same person. That is the most common reading. At the same time, the Bible never explicitly says, “Matthew was also called Levi.” So the honest way to say it is this: Matthew and Levi are very likely the same man, but the identification is an inference from the parallel Gospel accounts.
After Matthew follows Jesus, the story moves from the tax booth to the dinner table. Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners in Matthew’s house. This scene is easy to pass over, but it is one of the most beautiful moments in the Gospels. Matthew does not simply leave his old world behind; he seems to bring his old world into contact with Jesus. His house becomes a doorway where other outsiders encounter Christ.
The Pharisees are troubled by this. They ask why Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus answers with the famous physician image: the healthy do not need a doctor, but the sick do. He then says that He came not to call the righteous, but sinners. That sentence is the heart of Matthew’s story. Matthew is not introduced as a spiritual champion who earned his place among the apostles. He is introduced as a man called by mercy.
That does not make Matthew’s calling casual or cheap. Jesus’ mercy does not leave him at the booth. It calls him out of it. Matthew’s story is not “Jesus accepts me, so nothing changes.” It is “Jesus calls me, so everything changes.” The same grace that welcomes sinners also summons them to repentance, obedience, and new life.
Matthew is later named in the New Testament lists of the Twelve. This places him inside the chosen apostolic circle: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus or Judas son of James, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot. Matthew was not part of the “inner three” — Peter, James, and John — who appear at moments like the Transfiguration and Gethsemane. But he was still fully one of the Twelve. His place among them matters because the apostles were not merely fans of Jesus. They were witnesses, learners, messengers, and foundation stones in the Church’s proclamation of Christ.
Then there is the famous question: did Matthew write the Gospel of Matthew? The traditional Christian answer is yes: the Gospel has long been connected with Matthew the apostle. Early church writers such as Papias, quoted by Eusebius, and Irenaeus connect Matthew with a written Gospel or collection of sayings associated with the Hebrew or Jewish-Christian world. This ancient attribution is important and should not be brushed aside.
At the same time, we should be honest about the historical discussion. The Gospel of Matthew does not name its author inside the narrative. The text we possess is written in Greek, and many modern scholars believe it uses Mark as a source. This is why some scholars hesitate to say with certainty that the apostle Matthew personally composed the final Greek form of the Gospel. Others defend the traditional attribution or argue that Matthew may stand behind earlier material, testimony, or a source used in the Gospel. A careful Christian does not need to panic over this. The honest summary is: the traditional link to Matthew is ancient and meaningful, but the exact process of composition is still discussed.
What is beyond dispute is that the Gospel of Matthew has a distinct voice and theological emphasis. Matthew presents Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, the fulfillment of the Scriptures, and the King who announces the kingdom of heaven. The Gospel begins with genealogy, moves through fulfillment language, gives us the Sermon on the Mount, and ends with the Great Commission. Matthew is deeply concerned with discipleship, righteousness, mercy, judgment, the Church, and the mission to the nations.
That makes Matthew’s story even more fitting. The man associated with records, tables, coins, and accounts becomes connected in Christian memory with a Gospel of order, teaching, fulfillment, and mission. The former tax collector becomes a witness to the true King. The man once seated at a booth becomes a messenger of the kingdom of heaven.
What happened to Matthew later? Here we need to slow down. The New Testament says very little about his later ministry after the apostle lists. Later Christian traditions place him in different regions, including places such as Judea, Syria, Persia, Parthia, or Ethiopia, depending on the source. Many traditions also remember him as a martyr. Orthodox tradition honors him as the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew and commemorates his missionary labor and martyrdom. But historically, the details vary enough that we should not pretend to know every step of his later life with certainty.
And that is okay. The Bible gives us enough. We know Matthew was called by Jesus. We know he belonged to the Twelve. We know his story is tied to tax collecting, repentance, and the mercy of Christ. We know the Church has long connected him with the Gospel that bears his name. And we know his story continues to preach a message that never gets old: Christ does not only call the impressive, the religiously polished, or the socially acceptable. He calls sinners. He calls outsiders. He calls people at their desks, in their routines, in their compromises, and in their ordinary lives.
Matthew’s life is a reminder that discipleship often begins in a very specific place. Not in a vague spiritual mood. Not in a perfect season of life. Not after everything is cleaned up. Matthew was sitting at the tax booth when Jesus called him. The place that may have represented his old identity became the place where his new life began.
That is why Matthew still matters. He shows us that grace is not theoretical. It walks up to the booth. It looks a sinner in the face. It says, “Follow me.” And when Christ calls, the old life is no longer strong enough to hold the man who has heard His voice.
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Sources
Scripture
Matthew 9:9–13; Matthew 10:2–4; Mark 2:13–17; Mark 3:16–19; Luke 5:27–32; Luke 6:14–16; Acts 1:13; Matthew 1:1; Matthew 1:22; Matthew 4:17; Matthew 5–7; Matthew 28:18–20.
Early Christian Sources
Papias of Hierapolis, fragment preserved in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.39.
Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 3.1.1.
Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History.
Modern / Reference Sources
R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, New International Commentary on the New Testament.
Craig S. Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.
D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary.
W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison Jr., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew.
John Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Gospel According to Matthew.”
Orthodox Church in America, “Apostle and Evangelist Matthew.”
Christian History Institute, “Sons of Alphaeus.”