"TAX COLLECTOR!" The word itself sounds like an insult. Jesus even used the word as an insult when he spoke of the process of correcting a brother who sins: "If he refuses to listen even to the Church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector" (Mt. 18:17). And yet Jesus chose Matthew, a TAX COLLECTOR, to be an apostle. Surely, someone could have warned him that choosing a TAX COLLECTOR would not be good for his public image. But Jesus did not choose Matthew for image. He chose him because Matthew fit into his plan of salvation for the world.
Matthew wrote his Gospel for a community of Gentile and Jewish Christians. He wanted to show how Jesus was the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Old Testament. Jesus was the new lawgiver greater than Moses; he was the new king greater than David. He fulfilled the covenant promised to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through Abraham when the Magi from different lands brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh after Jesus' birth
Apostle, evangelist, and yes, former tax collector. Matthew does not focus on his own deficiencies, but rather on the grace of God. Matthew gives us the version of the Our Father with which we are most familiar. It reminds us to "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." That means forgiving our enemies, our friends, our family, and even ourselves. Matthew took the insult of tax collector and turned it into an opportunity for grace offered by Jesus.
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