Matthew

Matthew was a tax collector (publican) sitting at the receipt of custom in Capernaum when Jesus called him with two words: "Follow me. And he arose, and followed him" (Matthew 9:9). In Mark and Luke, he is called Levi the son of Alphaeus (Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27). After his calling, Matthew hosted a great feast at his house for Jesus, attended by "many publicans and sinners" (Mark 2:15). When the Pharisees objected, Jesus responded with the famous statement: "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:17). Tax collectors were despised in Jewish society as collaborators with Rome, making Matthew's inclusion among the Twelve remarkable. He is traditionally credited with writing the Gospel of Matthew, the most Jewish of the four Gospels, which opens with a genealogy tracing Jesus from Abraham through David and contains extensive quotations from the Hebrew prophets to demonstrate that Jesus fulfilled messianic expectations.