Today is the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. The other Apostle and Evangelist is St. John.
The Evangelists Luke and Mark were not Apostles in the sense that the Twelve were. Luke, a physician, was a companion of St. Paul (Col 4:14 and 2 Tim 4:11) who investigated the events he relates (Luke 1:1-14) founded on apostolic witness. Mark, or John Mark appears in Acts. His mother owned a house in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). He accompanied Paul and Barnabas. Papias of Hierapolis (+140) and St. Irenaeus (+202) says Mark was an interpreter for St. Peter.
Back to St. Matthew.
Luke says that Matthew was the son of Alphaeus (5:27). Hence, he could have been the brother of James the Lesser, son of Alphaeus. James is only mentioned 4 times and only in connection with his mother, as in Mark 14:40 where Mary, “mother of James” goes with Mary Magdalen to anoint Jesus body.
Before Christ called him, Matthew worked as a publican, a tax collector for the Romans in Capharnaum. He was therefore despised. Jesus said to him simply, “Follow me” and Matthew “rose and followed him” (Matt 9:9) leaving behind a no doubt profitable job.
Matthew then held a banquet for Christ, attended by other publicans and sinners. When the Pharisees complained, Jesus answered: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt 9:12–13). Matthew’s conversion thus was a manifestation of divine mercy. The tax collector who had kept accounts of earthly debts became the Evangelist who recorded the forgiveness of spiritual debts.
Matthew’s Gospel, one of the three “synoptic” Gospels, underscores Jesus as the long-awaited and prophesied Messiah, as the new Moses, and as the royal Son of David and hence the true King of the Jews. Matthew’s frequent references to Old Testament prophecies shows that Christ fulfills Israel’s Scriptures. Matthew alone records several passages concerning Peter, the Church, fraternal correction, and the final judgment.
Tradition holds that Matthew preached first among the Jews and afterward carried the Gospel to other peoples. He is honored as a martyr, although the circumstances of his death remain uncertain. His life shows how quickly grace can transform a compromised past into an apostolic vocation.
Recently for the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, we had for the Gospel reading the genealogy from Matthew 1. It’s isn’t exactly electrifying at first glance or hearing, with all the “begats”. However, once you crack its “code” it becomes far more interesting.
As mentioned, Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1). The opening words, Biblos genese?s, echoes Genesis and, therefore, announce a new beginning. In Jesus Christ, God brings Israel’s long history to fulfillment and begins the renewal of creation.
Matthew then traces the line from Abraham through David and the Babylonian exile to “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.” (Matt 1:16).
Abraham received the promise from God that all nations would be blessed through his seed. God promised to David that his throne would endure. The Babylonian Exile seemed to place both promises in doubt. Matthew’s genealogy shows that God continued to govern history through human faithfulness, weakness, sin, catastrophe, and obscurity. The Messiah is presented as the descendant of Abraham who brings blessing to the nations and as the Son of David who inherits the David’s kingdom.
Matthew’s genealogy is arranged into three groups of fourteen generations:
- from Abraham to David,
- from David to the Exile,
- from the exile to Christ.
Matthew explicitly draws attention to this 14 structure in v. 17. The number 14 may point toward David, since the Hebrew consonants of the name David, D-W-D, have the numerical value 4, 6, and 4, totaling 14. This stresses the Davidic identity of Jesus at the core of the genealogy.
Matthew’s genealogy is selective rather than comprehensive. Biblical genealogies commonly omit generations in order to emphasize theological relationships and provide a memorable structure. Matthew interprets Israel’s history according to a providential pattern: promise, kingdom, judgment, and restoration. The Exile is the great wound within the genealogy. Even after some Jews returned to their land, Israel remained politically subject to foreign powers. With the coming of Christ, the deeper exile caused by sin begins to end.
The inclusion of four women in the genealogy, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and “the wife of Uriah,” Bathsheba, is important. Their stories involve danger, irregular circumstances, Gentile connections, or grave human sin. They prepare the reader for the unexpected manner of Christ’s conception and reveal how divine providence works through complicated histories. Ruth and Rahab also anticipate the entrance of the Gentiles into the people of God. Bathsheba’s designation as “the wife of Uriah” preserves the memory of David’s adultery and murder. The royal ancestry of Christ contains both splendor and shame.
In Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, Benedict XVI reads Matthew’s genealogy as a theological interpretation of Israel’s history rather than a bare biological record. For Benedict, the genealogy reveals that Jesus assumes the whole history of Israel, including its greatness, failures, sins, judgments, and renewed beginnings. God’s promise advances through the confused realities of human freedom. In Christ, that history reaches its goal and opens outward to embrace all humanity.
Throughout the genealogical list, Matthew repeatedly writes that one man “begot” another. At the crucial moment, the construction changes. Joseph is not said to have begotten Jesus. He, instead, is called “the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus.” The Greek relative pronoun h?s, “of whom,” is feminine singular and therefore refers to Mary alone. Hence, even before Matthew recounts the virginal conception, the grammar indicates it. Jesus is in David’s legal line through Joseph (true King of the Jews), while His human nature is received from the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Ghost.
The genealogy also reveals the humility of the Incarnation. As pointed out by Benedict XVI, the eternal Son enters a human family filled with saints and sinners, kings and forgotten men, Jews and Gentiles. He does not stand outside fallen history. He enters it, takes its burden upon Himself, and heals it from within.
Matthew’s genealogy is a proclamation of hope. God’s promises endure long periods when their fulfillment cannot be seen. Generations can pass, kingdoms rise and collapse, families fail, and names disappear from human memory. Providence, however, remains active. At the appointed time, the long list of the genealogy reaches Mary, and from her is born Jesus, whose name means “the Lord saves.” All the tangled roads of Israel’s history converge upon Him.
In his Commentary on Matthew, St. Jerome says:
“Matthew calls himself a publican to show his readers that no one need despair of salvation if he has turned to better things.”
This seems to be in keeping with the thread through the Evangelist’s genealogy about how God used broken and imperfect sinners to bring His providential plan to fruition. Jerome observes that Mark and Luke call the Apostle “Levi,” while Matthew openly records his own familiar name and former occupation. The Evangelist refuses to conceal what might bring him shame. His candor becomes part of his proclamation of grace. Matthew’s past displays the power of Christ, who transforms a tax collector into an Apostle and an Evangelist.
We too, dear reader, are works in progress, flawed but still going forward.
God can work amazing things through you.
GO TO CONFESSION.
From a reader…
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