Matthew 10:3

Matthew The Publican

Matthew the publican. Matthew 10:3.

There are four lists of Christ's apostles given in the New Testament one in Matthew, one in Mark, one in Luke, and one in the Acts, and in each of them you find the name of St. Matthew. But in one of the lists that in Matthew's Gospel you find after the name the words “the publican.”

You must often have noticed the word “publican” in the New Testament. You find it again and again, and always in a connection that shows how little the publican was respected. Publicans and sinners are often spoken of together, and when the Jews wished to say something very bad about Jesus they said. “He is a friend of publicans,” “He eats with publicans and sinners.”

Now this word publican has quite a different meaning in the Bible from what it has among ourselves. It has nothing to do with the sale of strong drink. The publican in the Bible is a tax-collector.

But why should tax-collectors be spoken of as the lowest of men, and as great sinners? We often find it hard to pay taxes. Yet we do not speak of our tax- collectors and custom-house officers as though they were not fit to be known. If these taxes had been paid to a Jewish king or prince reigning at Jerusalem, the Jews would have felt differently about them. But the people of Palestine were paying taxes to a foreign power. They were at this time under the Roman Empire, and they felt very bitterly having lost their independence. They were the people of Jehovah; the Romans were heathen, who brought heathen ways among them, and compelled them to pay taxes to support a hated government.

And not only were the taxes paid to Rome, but they were very heavy. The reason was this. The Roman Empire was divided into provinces or districts, and the right to collect taxes in a district was sold by the government to the highest bidder. That is, a man said, “I will give you so much if you give me the right to collect and keep the taxes in such a place,” and the man who offered most got the post.

Now these men offered money for the post of publican that they might make money by it; and all the money they could raise above what they paid for the taxes was profit to themselves. So they squeezed money out of people in every way they could think of. They made the taxes as heavy as they could, and did many dishonest things in order to get as much profit as possible. The great publicans employed other men to collect the taxes for them through the country, and these other men all acted in the same way. They cheated and overcharged whenever they got the chance.

Thus a publican was always thought of as a dishonest person. There was a proverb which said that bears and lions might be the fiercest of the wild beasts in the forests, but publicans and informers were the worst in the cities.

You see, then, why the Jews hated the publicans. And when a Jew became a publican it was a terrible offence. He was a traitor to his country by collecting Roman taxes, and by extorting money from his own people. Besides, he had to break the Sabbath. Those who were not Jews did business on the Sabbath, and he had to be ready to examine goods and charge duty on that day, just as on any other day.

You can imagine how the Jews felt towards a man who did work like that. He was a disgrace to his family and his town. If we could imagine our country conquered by a heathen people who oppressed us with taxes, and insulted our religion, we should understand how the Jews felt towards anyone of their countrymen who became a publican.

Now Matthew was a publican. He sat in a little wooden hut near the Sea of Galilee, and collected the money due to him. There was a great deal of traffic on the Lake and in the towns round it. People were always coming and going, and he heard all the news of the countryside being discussed by the people who came to his little office. He heard of the preaching of John the Baptist. He heard that some publicans had gone to him to be baptized, and that John had told them not to take more money than was due to them. Then he heard of the preaching of Jesus. He heard of His miracles that were done in Capernaum how the sick were cured, how the paralyzed people walked, and how on this very Lake He had made a storm be still. He heard that some men he knew had gone to be followers of the new Teacher. James and John and Simon and Andrew all fishermen on the Lake had left their work and followed Jesus.

Perhaps Matthew went one day to listen to Christ, and heard Him speak about the love of God. Nobody loved the publican. Everybody despised him. Yet Jesus said God loved everybody. Perhaps he heard Jesus tell men not to be greedy of money or give their hearts to seeking it. That was what he (Matthew) was doing. Making money was all his pleasure in life.

Then one day Jesus Himself passed the publican's office. Very likely He had often passed it before, but this day He stopped and spoke. All He said was, “Follow me.” And Matthew rose, and left everything and followed Jesus.

What did Jesus want with a man like that? Of what use would he be? He was not respectable, and would only bring discredit on his Master. But Jesus had looked deep into the heart of Matthew. He saw that he was ashamed of his life and wanted to leave it. He saw that he needed God's love and forgiveness. And that was the kind of man He always wanted. There was no one so low or so much despised that Christ could not take him and use him. He saw good where nobody else saw it, and He did not care about public opinion. While people said, “Ah, He has taken that publican to be His companion now,” He knew that Matthew was going to be a faithful disciple and spread the knowledge of the Savior throughout the world.

We do not know much about Matthew's after-life. During Christ's life on earth he was always with Him, but after His death we hear no more about him. There are traditions that he went to distant countries as a missionary, and died a martyr.

We owe one of our Gospels to Matthew, and there are some things in it that are not in any of the others. It was Matthew who kept this beautiful saying of Christ for us “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” And it is in Matthew's Gospel only that we are told that he was a despised publican.

There are two things for us to learn from the story of Matthew.

1. There is good in everybody, however much appearances may be against them. It often happens that people would gladly be different, but they do not know how to begin, and their circumstances make it difficult. We must be careful not to judge people by what they seem, because God, who sees them as they truly are, and loves them, often judges very differently. There is nothing so ugly and dirty looking as coal-tar, but out of it can be made beautiful and brilliant dyes.

There was once a tinker who lived in Bedford. He was so given to swearing that everybody was shocked to hear him. Yet God called him and he followed; and he became the author of the Pilgrims Progress John Bunyan.

2. It is love that wins people. While people despised and hated him Matthew was a hard, selfish man, but when Jesus loved him and showed him that He wanted him his heart was softened.

The people who bring out the best in you are not those who look at your bad points but those who look at your good points. Their belief in you helps you to be better. Always look for the good in people and you will find it even where you do not expect it.

There was once a little girl who was so naughty that she had to be removed from several schools. Her teachers said she was so troublesome that they could not keep her. At last she went to a school where she did very well indeed. When someone asked her what the explanation was, she said, “They were so good to me that I was ashamed to be bad any longer.”