If we were the ones to choose Jesus’ twelve apostles, most likely we would not have chosen Judas Iscariot or Matthew (a.k.a. Levi) the tax collector. Yet Jesus called them both specifically and directly. No doubt Jesus’ choice didn’t sit very well with the other eleven, since Matthew was by profession a collaborator with the hated Roman occupiers, and tax collectors in general were seen as extortioners and oppressors.

Jesus chose Matthew in part due to his skills as a scribe. Just as importantly, Matthew immediately and completely obeyed Jesus’ command to follow Him just as the four fishermen Simon Peter, his brother Andrew, and the James and John the sons of Zebedee had. Matthew’s gospel is focused on a Jewish audience with the intent of convincing both the rank and file Israelites of his day and their leaders that Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning their Messiah, and we who read Matthew’s gospel nearly two thousand years later are also the undoubted beneficiaries of Jesus’ choice.