Matthew 9: Matthew Gets Personal

Finally, in chapter 9, we discover a bit about the author of the first Gospel in the New Testament, Matthew. We are given some interesting pieces of personal information.

First, Matthew is Jewish. Not much doubt about this fact, given the flavor of his writing, his occupation, his friends, his place of living, and other traits revealed along the way.

Second, Matthew was a tax collector. This may not seem like a big deal in our time, but tax collectors were often singled out in the Gospels as those in Jewish culture seen as sinners with a capital S. Matthew likely didn’t have too many “real” friends as a result. He was also probably good with money and literate (which helps explain why he would be one of the disciples to author a Gospel; interesting how we don’t often think about the fact that many of the disciples may not have even been able to read and write).

Third, Matthew was spiritually hungry. How can we know? Of all the accounts of those Jesus called to follow him, in Matthew’s Gospel and elsewhere in the Gospel accounts, Matthew’s call is the shortest. We are simply told Jesus said, “Follow me,” and Matthew did.

There are lots of academic arguments both for and against Matthew as the first Gospel account written. Regardless of whether Matthew or Mark really came first, I’m convinced Matthew wrote early both because he could and because he had the desire to communicate the good news to his fellow Jewish people.

In fact, it’s possible Matthew was written as early as just a few years after the events took place. The shortest time would be if the resurrection took place at the later date of 33 rather than 30 and that Matthew was written as early as some of the church fathers state, meaning an original composition of 41-44. This may not be the case, as it could have come any time before Luke (likely 60-62) who quotes Matthew, but regardless, it means Matthew’s account was freshly penned by someone who had personally answered the call to “Follow me” (I understand some scholars argue a later date or that Matthew was not the real author and other such concepts, but I can’t take all of that on here. Here, I accept the apostle Matthew as the genuine author and a date before Luke’s traditional composition date, and maybe much earlier.).

My question as I read and wrote down these words was, “Do I respond as quickly to the call of Jesus?” My application is to live with this mindset today.

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NOTE: Many of you have not yet picked up on the fact that each post includes a picture taken from my phone of the day’s chapter I am discussing. I won’t win any awards for my handwriting, but love sharing each page along the way. Click on the image and it EXPLODES (or at least gets bigger).

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Dillon Burroughs has written, co-written, or edited over 60 books, including the upcoming devotional work Thirst No More (October 2011). He served as an associate editor for The Apologetics Study Bible for Students and is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. Find out more at DillonBurroughs.org.