Matthew
St. Matthew via jnshaumerer on Flickr licensed under cc 2.0
Who is St. Matthew
Today is the feast day of St. Matthew- apostle and the first gospel writer. St. Matthew (also known as Levi) was the son of Alphaeus and worked as a tax collector. Because he worked with money, kept records, and wrote a gospel, he was literate, which was not common for that time and place. Matthew was probably multilingual too. He was familiar with the Hebrew scriptures and spoke Aramaic, but he also had to be familiar with Latin since he lived in a land occupied by Rome, and Greek because that was a common language for trading. Matthew’s gospel was written in Greek but gives the reader glimpses of his knowledge in these other languages. He was reviled for his work since tax collectors worked for Rome and were known for cheating the people and profiting from the collections.
Matthew is usually portrayed with three purses. Three of course is the number for the Blessed Trinity. It also represents the three kinds of taxes Matthew collected: A harvest tax, poll tax, and income tax.
But maybe the most interesting thing about St. Matthew is that he was a Jew who was hated by the Jewish people. It was not uncommon for tax collectors to take in extra money for themselves when they collected the tax money. So because of his job, Matthew was not a trusted, or well-liked member of his own community.
Perhaps that is why the other apostles disliked Matthew, and most certainly didn’t appreciate socializing with him. Yet it was St. Matthew who had the dinner for Jesus with the Pharisees and other sinners, for whom Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners.”
After the ascension, Mathew is said to have gone to Ethiopia where he was beheaded.
In Christian Art, Matthew is usually depicted with the winged man or angel.
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Several interesting items about St. Matthew:
Father Lawrence Lew, OP via Flickr licensed cc.
In the Orthodox Church, tradition says that St. Matthew refused to die even after several attempts were made against his life. He was first placed upside down and lit on fire, then sunk in a coffin in the sea overnight. The ruler of Ethiopia, who tried to kill Matthew, apologized to the apostle and converted to Christianity.
Father Lawrence Lew, OP, via FLickr, licensed cc.
Ways to Celebrate!
- Look at a Free Bible Study on the book of Matthew, like this one from the St. Paul Center.
- Put gold chocolate coins or kisses out in a candy dish today to symbolize Matthew’s conversion from tax collector to disciple!
- Watch Jesus of Nazareth, which is based heavily on Matthew’s gospel. At 2:10:02, is one of the funniest parts of the movie. At 2:10:02 is one of the funniest parts of this movie- Peter expressing his feelings about St. Matthew and then putting a little sarcasm towards Jesus – makes me laugh every time. You can see the entire movie online for free on Youtube here.
- Coloring page in the Catholic Icing membership for September!
- Do a picture study. One of my favorite priests received a print of this famous painting by Caravaggio for his ordination. For centuries it has been debated, which one of the figures is St. Matthew? This could be a great discussion around the dinner table!
