Lesson on The Apostle Matthew

So far we've learned that Matthew was a tax collector who was first named Levi (name meaning "joined in harmony"). He was from Capernaum on the edge of the Sea of Galilee. Besides him being a tax collector, he was also Jewish and Hebrew and well educated.
His first encounter with Jesus was in Matthew 2:14, Luke 5:27-28, Matthew 9:9. Luke 5:27 is my favorite one because it says, "After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him."
I love that! Jesus just walked up to Levi and told him to follow him, and Levi got up and left everything behind because he knew none of it would be worth the time that he would spend with Jesus. What's even more amazing is the fact that Levi, being a tax collector, making him one of the least favored people in the town, was called by Jesus to follow him. Jesus didn't care for Levi's past mistakes, for the fact that he takes people's money. Jesus knew the kind of person who Levi was and knew Levi would make a great disciple one day.
He was next mentioned in Matthew 9:10, Luke 5:29. In the book of Matthew it says that Levi invited Jesus to have dinner at his place and other tax collectors were welcomed there as well. And in the book of Luke, it says that Levi threw a a great banquet! It shows you that it was a nice and casual gathering, but as well a celebration for Jesus coming to the town and asking Levi to follow him.
Later on Levi was renamed Matthew (name meaning "Gift of God").
And one question you might be asking is, "Did Matthew write the book of Matthew?" And the answer is, Yes. He was actually the first one to record the Gospel and had written it in Hebrew. The book of Matthew also has a stronger melding of the Old Testament into the New Testament, mainly through using the parables. He also includes the genealogy of Christ in the very first chapter. He also connects God with Fatherly love the most. 45 times to be accurate. He just wanted to emphasize how God is only our creator, but our father as well. After he did make us in his image, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."(Genesis 1:27). He is our maker, our creator, our king, and our father.
Matthew was a really cool dude. And so was Phillip. I'll talk about him next in the following post.