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21 September is St Matthew’s Day. But who was St Matthew and what do we know about him? This is the story …
Meaning of the name
There is only one person the Bible called Matthew. The name is originally Hebrew וּהיָ תְתִּמ (Mattityahu), which means “gift of God”. The English name of Matthew comes from the Greek Ματθαῖος (Matthaios). The reason for the double t in English is because the Greek spelling has a τ (tau), equivalent of “t” followed by a θ (theta) which is transliterated “th”.
Matthew the Tax Collector
Matthew is recorded as a tax collector. There were two types of tax collectors at the time of Jesus. Taxes were paid to the Temple authorities and to the Roman authorities. In the King James Version tax collectors were called “publicans” from the Latin “publicani,” although these days to most people that word implies you run a pub. The Romans told tax collectors to collect a certain amount of tax, but they often collected much more.
Luke records that when tax collectors came to be baptised by John the Baptist, and asked what they should do, he did not tell them to stop being tax collectors, but rather he told them to collect no more than they were required to (Luke 3:12-13). Jesus was once asked a trick question whether the Jews should pay taxes to God or to Caesar. He did not regard it as an either or scenario, but recognised it as a false dichotomy meant to trap him and he replied, “Render unto God what is God’s, render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” (Mark 12:17).
Matthew worked as a tax collector in the service of King Herod. Those who collected taxes for the Romans were seen as collaborators with the occupying forces. They were often despised but we know from the stories of Jesus with Matthew and in another story with Zacchaeus (Luke 19:2) that Jesus did not hold this prejudice. When Zacchaeus repented he said he would repay people fourfold (Luke 19:8) which reflected his knowledge of the Mosaic law which required a fourfold compensation after theft (Exodus 22:1).
Account in Matthew
The calling of Matthew is recorded briefly in Matthew 9:9-12. Assuming that Matthew the apostle is the same as Matthew the author of the first Gospel account, then this makes this account autobiographical. In this account Jesus is in Capernaum, by the sea of Galilee, which was his base, and he saw a man sitting at the tax collector’s booth (Matthew 9:9), also called a desk or office depending on the translation. It does not state it in the text, but it could be that this records when Matthew was called rather than when Jesus first met him. It may be that because they were both in Capernaum that this was the culmination of encounters, or it may be the first time they met. In any case Jesus said, “Follow me,” a phrase kept in virtually all English translations, and he did.
Supper at Matthew’s house
Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to have dinner with him at his house, along with other tax collectors (Matthew 9:10). It may be that it was a dinner that was scheduled anyway and he invited Jesus and his disciples as extra guests of honour. Or it may be that he invited Jesus and his disciples and then invited fellow tax collectors in order for them to meet him.In any case some Pharisees observed this and asked Jesus’s disciples why he was with tax collectors and other sinners (Matthew 9:11). On finding out about this Jesus replied that it is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick (Matthew (9:12) and said he had not come to call the righteous but sinners (Matthew 9:13).
Matthew alias Levi
In Mark and Luke the same story is told in a very similar way and it appears in Mark 2:13-17 and Luke 5:27-31. In these accounts he is called Levi. This is not a contradiction because it seems it was common for people to be known by two names. We can think of Jacob also known as Israel, Cephas also known as Peter, Thomas also known as Didymus, and later Saul also known as Paul. The name Levi may suggest that he was a Levite, or that Levi was his surname, or that he was known as Matthew to the Romans and Levi to the Jews.Mark adds that he was the son of Alphaeus (Mark 2:14). Alphaeus is also mentioned as the father of James the fisherman (not to be confused with Jesus’s half-brother James). It is not clear if this was the same Alphaeus or a different Alphaeus. If it is the same Alphaeus then that makes Levi the tax collector and James the fisherman brothers. In the lists of the apostles in Matthew 10:3 and Luke 6:15 and in Acts 1:13, Matthew precedes James in the lists of apostles, which may possibly support the idea they were connected.
Matthew the Apostle
Later we read that Matthew was selected from amongst the disciples as an apostle which we read in Matthew 10:1-4, Mark 3:13-19 and Luke 6:13-16. Jesus expected honesty and integrity but he did not seem to require tax collectors to give up their day job. In the list of apostles in Matthew, he is called “Matthew the tax collector” or “Matthew the publican”, depending on the translation, which may imply he carried on working in the trade. After that he does not appear specifically by name except in Acts when he is among the apostles in the upper room (Acts 1:13).
Matthew’s Gospel
What makes Matthew important is the belief that he later wrote an account of Jesus’s life and ministry known as “The Gospel According to St Matthew the Evangelist” or “Matthew’s Gospel” or just Matthew. It was the opinion of the Early Church fathers that these were the same Mattthew.
We cannot be sure but it makes a certain amount of sense, since a tax collector would have been literate and would have been able to write in Greek, which was the official lingua franca of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. As an apostle he was also an eyewitness to the accounts he wrote about.
His humility and focus on Jesus, may explain why he does not mention himself although he is there wherever it says “the apostles.” As someone who was literate he may have taken notes along the way which he later incorporated into his Gospel account. The accounts of the birth of Jesus and details about the visit of the Magi suggest he had first-hand information from Mary, mother of Jesus herself.
The writers of the four Gospel accounts were traditionally called “Evangelists” and so he is often known as “St Matthew the Evangelist.” Much of Matthew is remarkably similar to Mark’s Gospel but with additional material, so one common theory is that Matthew may have taken Mark’s Gospel and augmented it.
Structure
The Gospel of Matthew was structured in a way which is not always apparent from modern chapter divisions. It starts with an introduction when the first two chapters set the scene of Jesus’s birth narratives commonly retold at Christmas. Then it has five sections which each end in “Jesus had ended these sayings” or something similar (Matthew 7:28, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1 and 26:1). Then the last section Matthew 28:16-20 acts like an epilogue or summary.
This kind of structure is lost to most modern readers because of the chapter divisions, which are not original, although helpful. Some people wonder if this fivefold structure was meant to mimic the five books of Moses which start the Old Testament. It may be why it was placed as the first Gospel when the books of the New Testament were compiled together. Unlike Luke and John this is the only writing which we have from Matthew.
Greek or Aramaic original?
Some people believe that Matthew wrote his Gospel first in Aramaic or Hebrew and it was later translated into Greek. This idea comes from the early second-century Church father Papias of Hierapolis who wrote that Matthew had collected the oracles or sayings of Christ in Hebrew, but this may refer to the idea that he wrote notes which he later incorporated into the Gospel account, which he then wrote in Greek. In any case it is rather academic because if he did write the Gospel originally in Hebrew or Aramaic, it has never been found, so we only have the Greek Gospel to go by.
What happened to Matthew?
After his appearance in the upper room in Acts, Matthew disappears from the story. As is often the case the gaps in the narrative are filled in by tradition or legend. He is believed to have been martyred but there is no widely accepted tradition. John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, which drew on earlier sources, popularised the idea that he evangelised in Parthia and “was slain with a halberd in the city of Nadabah, A.D. 60.”
Churches dedicated to St Matthew
In the Catholic and Anglican tradition some churches are dedicated to St Matthew. There are 145 church buildings dedicated to St Matthew in the Church of England. There are three Catholic cathedrals dedicated to St Matthew, being Salerno in southwestern Italy, Osorno in Chile, and in Washington DC in the US, made famous for being the site of the funeral Mass for President Kennedy. The oldest is St Matthew’s Cathedral at Salerno in Italy, which claims to have his relics, and where there is an annual St Matthew’s Day procession.
St Matthew’s Day
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition St Matthew is remembered each 16 November and in the Coptic Church on 22 October. In the Western Church he is remembered each 21 September which is called “The Feast of St Matthew” or “St Matthew’s Day”. This is in the church calendar for Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans.
In the Catholic tradition St Matthew is the patron saint of accountants, bankers, tax collectors, customs officers, and civil servants.
Many saints’ days are set by the traditional date of death or martyrdom, although in St Matthew’s case there is no one widely accepted tradition of how, where or when he died. The date of 21 September for St Matthew’s Day goes back to at least the 6th century, but the reason for this particular date is now lost in early church tradition or liturgical calendar development.
Collect for St Matthew’s Day
The collect prayer for St Matthew’s Day is “O Almighty God, whose blessed Son called Matthew the tax collector to be an apostle and evangelist: give us grace to forsake the selfish pursuit of gain and the possessive love of riches that we may follow in the way of your Son Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.”
Who was St Matthew and what do we know about him?
