Together - Daily DevotionalSample

Matthew the Money Man

Reading: Matthew 9:9-13

Key Verse: “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at a tax collectors booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him”. v.9

Matthew was a collaborator with the Roman force of occupation because he collected their taxes from his own people. In this story we see that the religious Pharisees despised the tax collectors and classed them in the same category as “sinners”. In Luke 18:9-14 a Pharisee thanked God he was not a “robber, evildoer, adulterer or tax collector”. To be in the presence of a tax collector was to bear their guilt and shame by association. In Luke 19:1-10 we read the story of Zacchaeus who as chief tax collector was regarded as a “sinner” by the people who he had cheated in his pursuit of money and wealth.

But Jesus does not “catch” sinfulness from others; rather the sinful “catch” righteousness from Jesus. Jesus is not afraid to be associated with such people. Instead He purposely seeks them out to receive His grace, forgiveness and transforming new life. Matthew’s life was all about money but at a simple call from Jesus he left his tax collectors booth to experience new beginnings as one of His disciples. Eventually Matthew was chosen as one of the twelve apostles and used his recording skills to pen the gospel we still read today.

Prayer: Lord, thank You that whatever others think of me, You seek me out to give me new beginnings as your disciple