Matthew / Levi
OK, I started writing about the sermons on the mountain given by Jesus and recorded in Matthew and in Luke ... and I stalled. Somehow I couldn't do it -- even in my head it kept coming out like "wahwah wahwah wah. . ." Now, don't get me wrong ~ I do love the SoM's -- both of them, the differences, the power statements, the passion of the values Jesus so clearly elucidates. But somehow I just couldn't write it out. I really do recommend that you go yourselves and check out the OT references for the Matthew sermon: Isaiah 60-61, Isaiah 55 especially.
What kept filling my head was Matthew himself. I kept getting caught in the MATTHEW / LEVI-ness of his story. I mean - why did Mark and Luke call him Levi, and yet he called himself Matthew. Was it a nic-name? Mark and Luke were the 'non-disciple' gospel writers. I suspect that Mark was actually there for much of Jesus' ministry and did actually hear Jesus himself ~ but as a 'kid brought along'. When Peter is arrested -- post resurrection -- and Herod intends to kill him, the church gathers at John-Mark's house ... John-Mark IS Mark the gospel writer. And, Mark was Barnabas's cousin. I suspect that the family had been followers of Jesus for a while. They may have been converted at Pentecost...but even so, Mark grew up in the time when Jesus was ministering, and when He died and was resurrected. If the church gathered at his house for prayer...he, Mark, must have known the leaders of the Jerusalem church. So ~ he knew Matthew. Probably heard from Matthew, himself, all about his conversion. Luke traveled with Paul...late. We don't know his 'backstory' -- he wrote everyone else's story. Why did these two call Matthew "Levi"?
I think, and let's be clear: I THINK...I do not know ~ there isn't a lot known about Matthew/Levi. They know he was a disciple who had been a publican ~ that is a tax collector. They know he wrote a gospel. About the rest of his story --- there is speculation and a few tidbits of info from early church fathers...but nothing definitive. So...here is what I THINK happened:
I think they, Mark and Luke, called him Levi because he was from the family line of Levi: the line of the priesthood. Matthew's gospel is decidedly "Hebrew" in style, language, references to the Old Testament, etc. What if he was going to be a priest...but walked away. What if he got fed up with the religiosity and hypocrisy and walked away . . . far, far way. Becoming a tax collector was about as far away from the priesthood as one could go. It showed not just greed, but greed based in vicious disdain ~ at least to me it does.
So this is how "tax collecting" went then. A man would go to the Roman authorities and 'buy' a region ~ that is pay the entire tax bill for a whole region. Then he would go collect taxes from the people to cover what he had paid up front. And -- this is the insidious part -- he could collect how ever much he wanted to. The Romans didn't care. He simply pocketed the difference: Pay the Romans $1000 up front, collect $100,000.00. Of course the tax collectors were hated -- they fleeced their own people and were in league with the hated occupiers: the Romans. But ~ what made a man choose that profession, especially one who came from the house of Levi? (and again, remember, I do not KNOW that Matthew was from a priestly family...I just suspect.)
So lets say I am right. Here is Levi/Matthew. He has cut ties with the Jews, for all intents and purposes. The party after his conversion says that his friends were "tax collectors and sinners".
Matt 9:10-11
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
Tax collectors and sinners! Those were Matthew's friend, not the nice 'squeeky-clean' Jewish, go to synagogue every Sabbath types. But ... he had to have heard Jesus. I imagine him sitting somewhere in the crowd when the "Matthew" version of the Sermon on the Mount was preached. I bet Matthew was intrigued with Jesus. I think it was the confrontations with the Pharisees that caught his eye. I guess he thought, "wow, they don't like him, . . . maybe he has something to say that is worth hearing.". So, he skips work one day, and follows the crowd out to the side of hills. He sits off by himself, under a tree ,and prepares to be cynical. Then Jesus starts in ~
Matt 5:3-6
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew half listens, looking down across his nose, he scans the crowd.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
He thinks, "Really? . . .
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Here he chuckles... "the 'meek' yeah! Have you met any Pharisees, Jesus?? As for 'inheriting the earth' ~ well, you are a local boy, guess you haven't figured out that the Romans have a lock on that commodity."
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
This one hits him. This one silences his inner dialog. The very bedrock of his cynicism, the lever that pushed him to the tax collector's table was a belly full of perverse hypocrisy from the religious leaders. Cynics often are actually hungry ~ starved for ~ real righteousness. I think often they are cynical because they can't stand the servings of blather and phony diatribes about 'sin' from people who talk the talk and will not walk the walk. If he was from the house of Levi, I suspect he had seen way too much of the hypocrisy and way too little righteousness. And once you begin to give way to bitterness, your eyes see all problems and wrongs. But IF he was from the house of Levi, he also had been trained in the scriptures. I suspect that when he heard Jesus say this, he got it and the words of Isaiah 55 reverberated in his spirit:
Isaiah 55:1-3a
"Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.
I think Matthew was hungry and thirsty ... I think he, in the days following the sermon, asked himself again and again, "What am I doing? What do I really want? Why AM I spending money on that which is not bread ... and labor on what does not satisfy??? Riches aren't doing it for me. And cynicism against those religious leaders isn't leading me to what I want ... what my soul really wants. But that Jesus guy. . . hmmmmm."
So, when a few days later, Jesus shows up at his table and says, "Follow me.", Matthew was in, boots and all!
What kept filling my head was Matthew himself. I kept getting caught in the MATTHEW / LEVI-ness of his story. I mean - why did Mark and Luke call him Levi, and yet he called himself Matthew. Was it a nic-name? Mark and Luke were the 'non-disciple' gospel writers. I suspect that Mark was actually there for much of Jesus' ministry and did actually hear Jesus himself ~ but as a 'kid brought along'. When Peter is arrested -- post resurrection -- and Herod intends to kill him, the church gathers at John-Mark's house ... John-Mark IS Mark the gospel writer. And, Mark was Barnabas's cousin. I suspect that the family had been followers of Jesus for a while. They may have been converted at Pentecost...but even so, Mark grew up in the time when Jesus was ministering, and when He died and was resurrected. If the church gathered at his house for prayer...he, Mark, must have known the leaders of the Jerusalem church. So ~ he knew Matthew. Probably heard from Matthew, himself, all about his conversion. Luke traveled with Paul...late. We don't know his 'backstory' -- he wrote everyone else's story. Why did these two call Matthew "Levi"?
I think, and let's be clear: I THINK...I do not know ~ there isn't a lot known about Matthew/Levi. They know he was a disciple who had been a publican ~ that is a tax collector. They know he wrote a gospel. About the rest of his story --- there is speculation and a few tidbits of info from early church fathers...but nothing definitive. So...here is what I THINK happened:
I think they, Mark and Luke, called him Levi because he was from the family line of Levi: the line of the priesthood. Matthew's gospel is decidedly "Hebrew" in style, language, references to the Old Testament, etc. What if he was going to be a priest...but walked away. What if he got fed up with the religiosity and hypocrisy and walked away . . . far, far way. Becoming a tax collector was about as far away from the priesthood as one could go. It showed not just greed, but greed based in vicious disdain ~ at least to me it does.
So this is how "tax collecting" went then. A man would go to the Roman authorities and 'buy' a region ~ that is pay the entire tax bill for a whole region. Then he would go collect taxes from the people to cover what he had paid up front. And -- this is the insidious part -- he could collect how ever much he wanted to. The Romans didn't care. He simply pocketed the difference: Pay the Romans $1000 up front, collect $100,000.00. Of course the tax collectors were hated -- they fleeced their own people and were in league with the hated occupiers: the Romans. But ~ what made a man choose that profession, especially one who came from the house of Levi? (and again, remember, I do not KNOW that Matthew was from a priestly family...I just suspect.)
So lets say I am right. Here is Levi/Matthew. He has cut ties with the Jews, for all intents and purposes. The party after his conversion says that his friends were "tax collectors and sinners".
Matt 9:10-11
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
Tax collectors and sinners! Those were Matthew's friend, not the nice 'squeeky-clean' Jewish, go to synagogue every Sabbath types. But ... he had to have heard Jesus. I imagine him sitting somewhere in the crowd when the "Matthew" version of the Sermon on the Mount was preached. I bet Matthew was intrigued with Jesus. I think it was the confrontations with the Pharisees that caught his eye. I guess he thought, "wow, they don't like him, . . . maybe he has something to say that is worth hearing.". So, he skips work one day, and follows the crowd out to the side of hills. He sits off by himself, under a tree ,and prepares to be cynical. Then Jesus starts in ~
Matt 5:3-6
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew half listens, looking down across his nose, he scans the crowd.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
He thinks, "Really? . . .
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Here he chuckles... "the 'meek' yeah! Have you met any Pharisees, Jesus?? As for 'inheriting the earth' ~ well, you are a local boy, guess you haven't figured out that the Romans have a lock on that commodity."
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
This one hits him. This one silences his inner dialog. The very bedrock of his cynicism, the lever that pushed him to the tax collector's table was a belly full of perverse hypocrisy from the religious leaders. Cynics often are actually hungry ~ starved for ~ real righteousness. I think often they are cynical because they can't stand the servings of blather and phony diatribes about 'sin' from people who talk the talk and will not walk the walk. If he was from the house of Levi, I suspect he had seen way too much of the hypocrisy and way too little righteousness. And once you begin to give way to bitterness, your eyes see all problems and wrongs. But IF he was from the house of Levi, he also had been trained in the scriptures. I suspect that when he heard Jesus say this, he got it and the words of Isaiah 55 reverberated in his spirit:
Isaiah 55:1-3a
"Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.
I think Matthew was hungry and thirsty ... I think he, in the days following the sermon, asked himself again and again, "What am I doing? What do I really want? Why AM I spending money on that which is not bread ... and labor on what does not satisfy??? Riches aren't doing it for me. And cynicism against those religious leaders isn't leading me to what I want ... what my soul really wants. But that Jesus guy. . . hmmmmm."
So, when a few days later, Jesus shows up at his table and says, "Follow me.", Matthew was in, boots and all!
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