Sermon for Pentecost 15, 21.09.2025
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Having just heard read from the lectern St Matthew’s own account of his call to discipleship from Matthew 9:9-13, and since we are in the “Year of Luke” in the Lectionary, I bring you Luke’s account of the same event:
Luke 5:27-32 – ‘After this (what is the ‘this’? It is that Jesus has just taught and demonstrated to the Pharisees and Scribes, by making a paralysed man walk, that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth), Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’
31 Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’
The calling of Matthew is also present in St Mark’s Gospel (Mk 2:13-17). There we learn one extra tidbit of information, that being, Levi was the son of Alphaeus.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, call us out of our need for selfish gain and transform us into the people of God who pursue the tasks of selfless discipleship. In your most holy name, we pray. Amen.
St Matthew - A Gift of God.
You will read in the majority of Bibles in English, that Levi, whom we remember today as St Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist (Matthew 9:9), is named as a tax-collector. Older Bibles, like the King James Version employ the term ‘publican.’ However, there is an interesting nuance to be noted concerning the accuracy of the use of the terms ‘tax-collector’ versus ‘publican.’ Apparently, the term publican does not accurately describe Levi’s profession but flatters it. He had an official Roman occupation that was established as early as the 3rd Century B.C. He was employed in what was known as the Roman publicanus. This meant he was a public contractor who played a crucial role in the administration of public affairs. The likes of Levi were responsible for various tasks of the Empire. They included,
Ø Supplying the Roman legions: Publicani provided food, equipment, and
other supplies to the legions, ensuring the military's readiness and
support.
Ø Managing public buildings: They oversaw the construction and
maintenance of public buildings and infrastructure.
Ø Collecting taxes: Publicani were the tax collectors for the Roman provinces, ensuring the collection of taxes and other public dues.
Ø Participating in contracts: They bid for contracts for public duties, such as constructing roads, fortifications, and other infrastructure projects.
Levi was therefore an established public figure, and considering that Peter, Andrew, James and John were fisherman, perhaps the most prominent public figure amongst the Twelve was Levi, rather than who we might think of simply as an obscure debt-collector who chased bad debts. So, we shouldn't picture him going from door to door, rather he had his office or kiosk, or as the NIV has and as seen in on-screen depictions, a ‘tax-collectors booth,’ stationed in Capernaum. And if you remember, Capernaum was St Peter’s hometown and the headquarters of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. The Romans were sure to have, what we might know as a Toll House or Customs House in Capernaum, and other major cities and ports. Capernaum was situated on the road that led from Damascus just where, at the northwest corner of the lake of Galilee, the highway passed from the territory of Herod Phillip to the domains of his brother, Herod Antipus. Not only customs but road-tolls would be calculated and extracted there, according to a vague tariff that would leave a certain lucrative freedom to the Customs Officer himself. The Pharisees might despise it, but the trade was a profitable one and much sought after: whether it was to be pursued honestly or dishonestly would depend on the character of the officer.[2]
And regarding that question of a tax-collector’s character, in his 2008 book, ‘Cast of Characters,’ author Max Lucado describes how the general populace might describe the likes of Levi. He writes,
Combine the grade of an embezzling executive with the presumption of a hokey television evangelist. Throw in the audacity of an ambulance chasing lawyer and the cowardice of a drive by sniper. Stir in a pinch of a pimp’s morality, and finish it off with the drug peddlers code of ethics - and what do you have, a First Century tax collector. According to the Jews, these guys ranked barely above plankton on the food chain. Caesar permitted these Jewish citizens to tax almost anything - your boat, the fish you caught, your house, your crops. As long as Caesar got his due, they could keep the rest. (pg. 13)
Maybe Max is employing a bit of hyperbole, but what is for sure is that those-in-the-know bundled the likes of Levi with sinners. In their own words we hear them say in their bemusement at Jesus, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? (Lk 5:30).
And Jesus’ answer reveals God’s heart and mission in the world, first to the Jew, then to the rest of the world, when he said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’ (Lk 5:31-32).
Did Jesus give Levi a new name, that of Matthew? You might think of the tribe of Levi, that is, the Levites, when you hear the name Levi? The forlorn Leah, wife of Jacob, first coined the name Levi. When he was born to her, she said, ‘Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ So he was named Levi’ (Genesis 29:34). Levi therefore means ‘attached’ or ‘joined’ But this Old Testament Levi’s New Testament namesake (i.e. our St Matthew) wasn’t living up to that name. For along one line of thought, the name Levi expressed the role of the Old Testament Levites in that they were to provide and promote social cohesion across the 12 Tribes of Israel. The Levite, ‘had no land of their own but were dispersed among the tribes, infusing all of them equally with the same education and thus forging a unified national identity across the clans.’[3] However, just like one of his colleagues, Zaccheus a chief tax-collector, Levi was also attached, but not to his people, but rather to selfish gain. Presumably, Levi gifted himself with a tip or two on top of the taxes he would have to pass on to Rome. And along this line of thought, we can now consider the name Matthew. Matthew means ‘gift of God.’
Because of the Lord’s choosing and calling him to follow, this newly named and saved sinner became an extended gift to us all. For we will now refer to him as Matthew - a gift of God. You see, when he left his ledgers behind, the official one of Rome and presumably the one for himself “under the table,” he took a lesson from the flowers of the field and the birds of the air who never did a day’s calculation in their life (Mtt 6:26-28). Matthew’s Master was no longer Herod Antipas: the shrewd fox (Luke 13:32). Now his Master, the Lord Jesus, who unlike the foxes, didn’t even have a place to lay his head (Mtt 8:20). This transformation took away all Matthew’s worldly prospects: Simon and Andrew might return to their fish, waiting for them in the lake, but Matthew had walked away from a coveted business and could never recover it. But he left it gladly and completely – at least it was not he but Judas who would come to keep the accounts for the Apostles (John 13:29).
Very interestingly, and something we may easily overlook is St Matthew’s obscurity, for the most part, after his call to discipleship. Yes, he appears in the list of the Apostolic Twelve, but temporarily “disappears” for a time. What became of him? Yes, the Lord works in mysterious ways, but he also works in the most intriguing of ways.
For in the most beautiful of ways, when the time arrived for a written Gospel record, to whom would it fall to be carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21); to testify to salvation alone in Christ Jesus? Accordingly, the duty and delight fell upon one who used the pen. Poor Matthew was back where he started, but this time with an eager will and purpose from on high. And it came to pass that sometime between the years 40 and 50 A.D., this ex-civil servant produced not the action-packed, yet artless Gospel of St Mark, but the orderly, almost ledger-like treatise which the church gladly received - The Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew. For if we were to judge from our surviving Greek addition of it, whose substantial identity with its Aramaic original, there is no reason to doubt the human author’s mathematical mind reasserted itself with a certain arithmetical neatness. Hence the seven parables of the Kingdom, the seven woes for the Pharisees, seven petitions of the Lord’s prayer, the probable number of seven Beatitudes. So too with the number five: five disputes with the Pharisees, the five loaves, five talents and above all the five books into which the body of his Gospel is clearly divided. And then, as we might expect, a sign of special knowledge regarding all things financial - the ‘denarius’ of Mark and Luke becomes more technically ‘the coin of tribute,’ a fact obvious and naturally expressed by a former Customs Officer. So also, though Mark and Luke omit it, we find the detail of the Temple Tax complete with its technicalities of indirect tax and poll tax, it's ‘drachmas’ and its ‘stater’.
And so Matthew’s old trade entered into a new service: the accountant became an evangelist; the Ledger turned into a Gospel. It is not surprising that Matthew alone records his Master’s words, ‘Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old’ (Mtt 13:52). Rightly understood, it has been said, that there is no poor tool or trade of ours that God's service will not perfect and dignify in the advancement of the Gospel.
The First Gospel and what has been claimed as the church’s favourite, is Matthew’s memorial. One tradition has it that he preached the Gospel to the Jews in the Holy Land for perhaps 15 years after the crucifixion (Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, iii.24.265). According to another possible tradition, confused perhaps because Matthew and Matthias are very closely spelt, it is possible that St Matthew went to Ethiopia, Parthia, and Macedonia to preach the word of the Lord; the Gospel of our salvation.
It is commonly but not unanimously affirmed that St Matthew died a martyr’s death. What is for sure is that he lived a martyr's life - and that is enough for us to remember and return thanks to God for a life well-lived. And for us he will always be the man who knew what money was and what it was not.[4]
As with all the Saints, today we have had St Matthew’s life and good work set before us, that we may follow his faith and good works, according to our calling[5],’ for it is in our own callings that the Lord Jesus can prosper the love and devotion of Jesus, ‘first in the family of faith’ (Galatians 6:10) and then in our families and communities as he calls each of us out of our sickness of sin and slavery to it, and out into the freedom of the Gospel and to take up our cross daily and follow him. As Jesus again invites us to table with him, we are to come to the altar rail longing for him to promote our transformation and conformation into his image for the sake of the world. Then by faith may we be each sent out into the world, forgiven to forgive with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and become little Matthews – little gifts of God to the world.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[2] The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, John Coulson Ed, Hawthorn Books Inc., New York, 1958, pgs 327-28.
[3] Levi | The amazing name Levi: meaning and etymology
[4] The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, John Coulson Ed, Hawthorn Books Inc., New York, 1958, pgs 327-28.
[5] (Source: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/#ac-xxi-0001)