The Way
Matthew at the Tax Booth
A man who rose from a place of scorn
Story
After teaching the crowd by the lake, Jesus set out again. As he passed the tax booth by the road, Levi the son of Alphaeus, that is Matthew, was sitting there. He was a tax collector, who took money from his own people, and whom everyone pointed at and counted among the sinners.
Follow me. It was a single word. Levi got up, left everything behind, and followed him. Then in his own house he held a great banquet for Jesus. Many tax collectors and sinners reclined at the table with Jesus and his disciples. Laughter and the clatter of dishes spilled out beyond the house.
Teachers of the law who belonged to the Pharisees, watching all this, challenged his disciples. Why does your teacher eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus heard and answered. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Walk this scene on the map →His Words
The healthy do not need a doctor, the sick do. I did not come to call those who think themselves righteous, but sinners.
Follow me.
Go and learn what this means: what I desire is mercy, not sacrifice.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: Mt 9:9–13 · Mk 2:13–17 · Lk 5:27–32
Background
Capernaum lay on the road where the Galilee of Herod Antipas met the territory of Philip, so it likely had a toll booth. Tax collectors often took more than was owed and were treated like sinners.
Pause and Reflect
Do I judge people by their past, or see them with the Lord's compassion?