Matthew 9:9
He arose and followed him
Two words and one verse. There is no negotiation, no stated reason, and no mention of what happens to the accounts on the table.
People of the Bible
Matthew
Was sitting at a tax booth, and the next scene is a dinner party at his house with all the wrong guests.
Also called Levi
Matthew is a tax collector at Capernaum, which in that setting means a man working for the occupying power against his neighbours and taking a margin. He is sitting at the receipt of custom when two words arrive, follow me, and he rises and follows. Luke adds that he left all. The first thing he does with his new life is throw a great feast in his own house and fill it with the only friends he has, which brings the complaint that fixes the scene in all three gospels.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of Matthew
- 01
- 02
Luke 5:29
A great feast in his own house
He does not quietly change career. He throws a party and invites a great company of publicans and others, which is an introduction rather than a farewell.
- 03
Matthew 9:10-13
I will have mercy, and not sacrifice
The Pharisees put the question to the disciples. The reply is about who needs a physician, and then a homework assignment: go and learn what this means.
- 04
Matthew 10:1-4
Matthew the publican
In the list of the twelve he is the only one whose old job is attached to his name, and it is his own gospel that does it.
Why it matters
The complaint is asked of the disciples rather than of him, why does your master eat with publicans and sinners, and the answer is about physicians and the whole and the sick. Matthew adds a line the others leave out, go and learn what that means, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, which is Hosea quoted at professionals. The gospel that carries his name is the one most concerned with the law and the prophets, written by the man at the booth.
9 songs
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
