Clerestory Windows Series: Matthew

This window represents the Apostle Matthew. The money bag represents his former life as a publican, or tax collector. The axe represents the form of his death.

Matthew was one of the most hated men in his community. He was a publican, or tax collector. It was his job to collect the taxes levied by the Roman Empire. This was enough to make him unpopular (in any culture, in any time), but to make matters worse, he was a Jew collaborating with an army of occupation, collecting tributes for an Emperor who considered himself to be a god. And if this weren’t despicable enough to the pious, monotheistic Jewish community, most publicans were also dishonest, collecting more taxes than were actually due and pocketing the extra money for themselves.

As far as the Jewish community was concerned, murderers, robbers and tax collectors were all in the same group of people–social outcasts who earned that status through their own evil ways. Tax collectors could not worship with the Jews, and they were forced to live outside the community, dwelling with the lepers. Some pious Jews would even spit on the ground as they passed the publican’s place of business.

This is the person that Jesus called, the chief of the outcasts, the lowest of the low, the last possible person with whom you would expect a respectable young rabbi to associate. The good news for Matthew is that Jesus didn’t seem to care what other people thought. He walked past that tax table in Capernaum and noticed Matthew. Rather than condemning him for his misdeeds, he said, "Follow me." Not "You are unworthy," not "You should be ashamed of yourself," not "You don’t measure up," but rather the simple words he had said to the others, "Follow me."

Why would Jesus have chosen this sinner, when there were so many others in the community claiming to be righteous? Maybe Jesus saw something in Matthew that no one else did. This is definitely a possibility, but I think it was much less mysterious a reason. Who better to understand how valuable a gift grace is than a man who has spent his life being told he is beyond redemption? A more righteous man might have assumed that he had earned his salvation through his actions, but Matthew, with his past, surely could not have made this mistake. He would understand what he had been given, and live the rest of his life telling others what was possible through the power of forgiveness and grace. Matthew would forever remember what it had been like to be an unworthy outsider. No one would ever be able to tell Matthew they were beyond help.

This is how Matthew is an example for all the generations. His calling and the life that followed are proof that there is no one who cannot be redeemed through the grace of the eternal, forgiving God revealed in Jesus.

Brandon Gilliam

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