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MATTHEW



 

Peter and Matthew were about as different as night and day, black and white, oil and water, apples and oranges… Peter was a country bumkin. Matthew was a Wall Street tycoon.

 

The first four disciples chosen by Jesus were Andrew, Peter, James, and John, all Galilean fishermen. For these guys, it must have been shocking for Jesus to invite Matthew to join their ranks as a full-fledged disciple. But He did.

 

As Jesus and His followers walked the highway on the outskirts of Capernaum, Jesus “saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, ‘Follow me,’ and he got up and followed him” (Matthew 9:9).

 

I suspect that Peter knew him. Capernaum wasn’t that big. Maybe they grew up together and played stickball in the sandlot. Maybe they went to Synagogue school together. If that’s true, Peter must have wondered how Matthew ended up as a tool of the Romans, collecting taxes from his own neighbors and friends, getting rich at their expense.

 

Tax collectors were hated! Nearly everyone in town turned away when Matthew walked by.

 

But, as Jesus and His followers passed by Matthew’s tax office, Jesus didn’t see a hard-hearted IRS agent, Jesus “saw a man.” Jesus recognized Matthew as the man he would become… a faith-filled disciple, a bold apostle, the author of the Gospel of Matthew, and a martyr for His Kingdom.

 

Praise the Lord! Jesus didn’t call the qualified – He qualified the called.

 

“It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. (Jesus) didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17)

 

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).




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