21 SEPTEMBER SAINT MATTHEW, APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST
A sinner saved by God’s Mercy
There is not much historical information on the Apostle Matthew. The origin of his name is an abbreviation of Matthias or Mattaniah, which means “Gift of God”.
According to the Roman Martyrology, he died on 21 September and his body was translated from Ethiopia to Salerno on 6 May, with a stop in Paestum. Tradition says he was killed while he was celebrating Mass.
Matthew, who was also known as Levi, was a “publican”, a person entrusted by the Roman Empire to collect taxes. He was thus quite an unpopular person among his people, because of his job as a tax collector. Moreover, the people saw him as someone who dealt with impure money because it bore the effigy of the emperor, and as a collaborator of the Romans, who oppressed them with their unfair taxes. He was considered a public sinner.
And yet, in his early days of preaching in Galilee, Jesus called him to follow him. Matthew himself, author of the First Gospel, recounts the scene:
“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, ‘Follow me’. And he rose and followed him. And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners’? But when he 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 came not to call the righteous, but sinners’” (9:9-13).
It is important to note that Matthew responded immediately to Jesus’ call. In this way, he showed his readiness and his humility, because by accepting to be a disciple of the Master, he abandoned his wealth and his well-paying job. Thus, Matthew hosted Jesus in his home. By writing the Gospel in Aramaic, the author wished to reach the Hebrews in Palestine, to reveal to them that Jesus is the Messiah and that, in him, all the scriptural prophecies are fulfilled.
The Prophet Ezekiel’s vision of God, was later interpreted as symbolic of the Gospels. In fact in the vision, God’s chariot is pulled by the Tetramorph: a lion, a bull, a man and an eagle, all of them winged creatures. The winged man was seen as representing Matthew because the first pages of his Gospel address the genealogy of Jesus, followed by accounts of his birth and childhood.
There is also a reference to Matthew in the motto on Pope Francis’ coat of arms: Miserando atque eligendo. It comes from the Homilies of Bede the Venerable (Hom 21; CCL 122, 149-151), in his commentary on the evangelic episode of the vocation of Matthew: “Jesus saw the publican and, because He loved him, chose him. He said to him: ‘Follow me’”. This homily pays homage to divine mercy and can be found in the Liturgy of the Hours of the Feast of the Apostle.