Matthew (Levi)

A Jewish tax collector sitting at his booth in Capernaum when Jesus called him to follow. Tax collectors were despised as collaborators with Rome and ritual outcasts, making Jesus' choice of Matthew a deliberate statement about the scope of God's grace. Matthew hosted a feast where Jesus ate with 'sinners and tax collectors,' provoking Pharisaic outrage. Church tradition attributes the first Gospel to him, with its distinctive emphasis on Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.