Why Jesus choose Matthew?

Answer 1

Saint Matthew is often considered a martyr, someone who died for their faith. The Catholic Church, especially in its early days when Matthew lived, often automatically declared someone a saint if they were martyred.

Answer 2

It is very strange why God chooses people to do His work. Take Jacob for instance, the founder of the 12 tribes of Israel, who was a liar, cheat and still didn't learn in later life when he favoured Joseph above the rest of his sons! As for Matthew, Jesus still chose him although he was a despised tax collector and in cahoots with the Roman occupying forces. It comforts me personally to realise that such sinful people are called by God to do His work. With regard to Matthew specifically, Jesus must have recognised qualities in him that were latent and needed someone who believed in Matthew to release them. In my own small way I have been in the same position; some pupils I used to teach when I was a head of science in a high school responded to belief in their latent talents rather than continual condemnation, despite their one-time behaviour problems. Matthew, being a tax collector, would lead Jesus to others - Zacchaeus, for one, and, as Jesus said, he came to make sinners repent and not for the 'respectable' people. We know that Matthew was unreservedly obedient to Jesus; so many would-be followers of Jesus would not leave their riches behind to follow him, but with a simple 'Follow me" from Jesus we are told that Matthew immediately got up, left everything (including his money, tax booth and belongings) and followed him never to return to that way of life. Matthew, as a tax collector was also trained (as were all tax collectors) by the Romans in an early form of shorthand. No wonder in Matthew's Gospel (almost cerainly written by Matthew the tax collector) we have recorded most of the sayings of Jesus - including the Sermon on the Mount. With his shorthand, it is very likely that Matthew wouild have taken down the teachings verbatim, so that we can now rely on a wod-for-word account in his gospel 2000 years later. It is believed that Matthew finally went on to evangelise Ethiopia and much of Northern Africa, where is tomb is to this day.

Answer 3

A:Matthew was probably chosen as one of the disciples for much the same reasons as the others were chosen. Jesus would have thought him a good candidate to learn his teachings and spread the word. There is nothing in the gospels that makes Matthew stand out from the other disciples.

Matthew is often thought of as having been chosen to write one of the New Testament gospels, but that was not really the case. All four gospels were originally anonymous until the second century, when the Church Fathers sought to establish who probably wrote each of the gospels. Papias decided that Matthew was one of the authors, probably because a tax collector would have been able to read and write. Interestingly, he did not seem to believe that the Pentecost would have made this consideration irrelevant.

Modern New Testament scholars have examined the gospels in the Greek language and established that Matthew's Gospel was based on Mark's Gospel and includes some 90 per cent of Mark's text, in the same order and often in exactly the same words in the original Greek language. They say that none of the gospels could have been written by an eyewitness to the events portrayed. In summary, Matthew was not chosen for this work.