Luke 5:27-32 Matthew is only called Matthew in the Gospel that bears his name. Luke and Mark refer to him as Levi. It is very possible that Jesus gave him the name Matthew when He called him as a disciple. Matthew means "gift of God". Matthew's office was located on the main highway that ran from Damascus, down the Jordan Valley to Capernaum, then westward to Acre to join the coastal road to Egypt or southward to Jerusalem. His duty was to collect "toll" or "transport" taxes from both local merchants and farmers carrying their goods to market as well as distant caravans passing through Galilee. As a Jew working for the Roman Government, he was hated by his fellow Jews. As a tax collector he had to send a prescribed amount of money to Rome - anything else he collected was his to keep. Like the other tax collectors, he was rather wealthy. Whether Matthew had been following the stories circulating about Jesus or if this was his first encounter with the Savior, no one knows. In any case when Jesus said, "follow Me," he, "got up, left everything and followed Him." (Luke 5:28) There was no way he could ever go back to his former occupation. Matthew did what Jesus would ask the "rich young ruler" to do. (Luke 18:18ff) This was not a secret decision that Matthew made. He threw a great banquet at his house and invited his fellow tax collectors and "sinners". The Pharisees and the teachers of the law just could never understand why Jesus always seemed to associate with the "low-lifes" Jesus' answer to them was, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:31f) When Jesus called His disciples, He saw them as possibilities - He saw them for what they could be. That's the same way He sees you and me. He's calling us to follow Him too. Not because of what we might have to offer, but for what He is able to do in and through us if we will just submit ourselves to Him. Will you?

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