📜 Matthew, also known as Levi, was a tax collector in Capernaum, a profession that placed him on the margins of Jewish society. His vocation, narrated in the Gospels, is a vivid example of the universality of divine grace, as Jesus called him from his tax booth, a radical conversion he embraced immediately, leaving everything to follow the Master. He became one of the twelve Apostles and is traditionally credited as the author of the first Gospel, originally written for a Jewish audience, with the aim of demonstrating Jesus as the promised Messiah in the Scriptures. His spiritual life is an enduring testimony to Christ's mercy, who did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matthew 9:13), reflects the very essence of Christ's choice of Matthew, transforming a despised tax collector into a pillar of the Church and an evangelist.
📖 Introit (Ps. 36, 30-31 | Ps. ibid., 1)The mouth of the just man shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment... The mouth of the just man shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment: the law of his God is in his heart. | Envy not the wicked, nor desire to imitate those who practice iniquity.
🕊️ Reading (Ez. 1, 10-14)
The likeness of the faces of the four living creatures: there was the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right side of the four; the face of an ox on the left side of the four, and the face of an eagle above the four. Their faces and their wings were stretched upward: each one had two wings joined together, and two covered their bodies. And each of them went straight forward; wherever the impulse of the spirit led them, there they went, and they did not turn as they went. The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire and like torches. This was the vision that ran among the living creatures, a splendor of fire, and out of the fire came forth lightning. And the living creatures went and returned like the appearance of a flash of lightning.
🌿 Gospel (Mt. 9, 9-13)
At that time, Jesus saw a man sitting in the tax office, named Matthew. And He said to him: Follow Me. And, rising, he followed Him. And it happened that as He sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples: Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? But when Jesus heard it, He said: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the just, but sinners.
💡 Reflections
🧭 The call of Matthew from the tax booth is a profound illustration of divine mercy, echoing the prophecy that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. "The Lord called him not to condemn, but to correct; not to despise, but to invite" (Saint Augustine, Sermon 146, 1). This radical transformation of a tax collector into an Apostle and Evangelist is also foreshadowed in the vision of Ezekiel, where the four living creatures, often seen as symbols of the Evangelists, each with distinct faces including that of a man (traditionally Matthew), move guided by the Spirit. "The evangelists, like the four living creatures, carry the message of the Gospel to all corners of the world, each with his peculiarity, but all driven by the same Spirit" (Saint Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel, Book I). This emphasizes that God's grace transcends human judgment and calls individuals from diverse backgrounds to serve His purpose, preferring the inner disposition of a contrite heart to external religious rites. "God does not look at the perfection of human justice, but at the need of the sinful soul for His mercy, which He prefers to any external sacrifice" (Saint Gregory the Great, Homily 15 on the Gospels).
🔍 The Gospel of Saint Matthew (9:9-13) narrates the call of Matthew and Jesus' subsequent meal with tax collectors and sinners. Parallel accounts in Mark (2:13-17) and Luke (5:27-32) complement this narrative, with Luke adding a significant detail: Matthew (Levi) "made him a great feast in his house" (Lk 5:29). This Lucan addition highlights Matthew's readiness and generosity in publicly welcoming Jesus, transforming his house, a place of his former profession, into a space for celebrating the new covenant, and gathering other sinners to hear the Master, a detail not explicitly stated in the other accounts.
✉️ Matthew's vocation resonates in the texts of Saint Paul, particularly in the radical nature of the divine call and personal transformation. Just as Matthew was called from his life as a tax collector, Paul, from a persecutor of the Church, was graced by divine mercy to be an apostle (Galatians 1:15-16). Paul frequently emphasizes that Christ came to save sinners, of whom he considers himself the foremost (1 Timothy 1:15), complementing Jesus' statement that He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Both Apostles testify that God's grace is not based on human merits or ritual sacrifices, but on sovereign election and mercy, transforming the marginalized or those who considered themselves unworthy into powerful instruments of evangelization.
🏛️ The authenticity and authority of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, like the others, are pillars of the Catholic faith, confirmed in various documents and councils. The Council of Trent (Session IV, 1546), in defining the canon of the Scriptures, ratified the divine inspiration and integrity of the four Gospels, including Matthew's, ensuring their historical and doctrinal truth. Furthermore, Pope Leo XIII's Encyclical Providentissimus Deus (1893) reiterates the inerrancy of Sacred Scripture in all that God willed to be written for our salvation, underscoring that the Evangelists were faithful instruments of the Holy Spirit. These documents complement the understanding of Matthew's vocation by affirming the divine providence that guides the choice of apostles and the composition of sacred texts, even from a tax collector who became an evangelist.
🔗 See English version of the critical articles here.