Even if these two apostles - Matthew and Thomas - are not as prominent as some of the other apostles, we seem to know them better than some of the others. I don’t know that we compare or contrast our lives and our personal characteristics with Matthew and Thomas as much as we do a Peter or a John, but there are some aspects that we can look at that may inspire us to do so.
Matthew
First, we have Matthew. Scripture is pretty direct concerning Matthew. Mark 2:14 says, simply, “As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, ‘Follow Me!’ And he got up and followed Him.” Levi, the footnote says, is another name for Matthew, the universally-accepted author of the book of Matthew.
Every Gospel account records the calling of Matthew. There is no previous interaction between him and Jesus, so it sounds a little ridiculous to our ears. A stranger walks up and says, Follow me, and this Jewish tax collector for Rome suddenly and seemingly blindly quits his job to follow the stranger. There is more recorded about the Samaritan woman at the well, when Jesus talks to her about the Living Water and she drops her waterpot to follow Him. But is it possible that Matthew has already heard of Jesus? Could he have been exposed to the teaching of Jesus before this interaction?
There is, of course, more to Matthew’s acceptance of Jesus. Like the woman at the well, it seems that Matthew immediately wants to share Jesus with his peers. He puts together a dinner and invites others, including some fellow tax collectors, to come and meet Jesus. The religious leaders who are lurking around every corner trying to catch and police Jesus can’t stand it: they just can’t accept that now He is associating with vile and dishonest tax collectors. They might be afraid that a partnership with Rome could be established and that Jesus will bring the power of tax collection and the Roman government down on their own authority.
Then there is Jesus’s response in Luke 5:31f: “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.”
Is Matthew guilty by association? There isn’t any indication that he was dishonest in his position, but we also know how despised the tax collectors were (and perhaps still are). Matthew would have been considered a traitor to the Jews. He is an easy target for the Jews in Capernaum to hate. In fact, tax collectors like Matthew often found themselves in the same lists with prostitutes and low-level social outcasts. Nobody ever said that Jesus went out to find the popular citizens. He might have had an easier time of it if He had gone to the celebrities and the politicians, the powerful and the rich.
Matthew might have provided some commentary to people as they listened to all of the references that Jesus made to tax collectors. They heard the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18:10-14, for example, where Jesus contrasts the two characters - a Pharisee bragging about himself and looking down on the other man and the other man, the tax collector, standing in the corner, penitent, not even able to show his face before God. David Laton said, “I suspect Matthew hung on every word, fully understanding the emotion of the tax collector in the parable.”
Like Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector that Jesus encounters, it is not Matthew’s position that attracts the Savior’s attention. It’s not his rejection or his acceptance in the village that catches the eye of Christ. But it might be their sheer willingness to leave their wealth and follow.
Matthew records for us the Sermon on the Mount (in Matthew 5-7), in which Jesus helps us understand some direct and simple applications of God’s expectations of us.
Matthew outlines those extremely difficult words in Matthew 10:37-39: “The one who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and the one who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And the one who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. The one who has found his life will lose it, and the one who has lost his life on My account will find it.”
He also gives us the answer to the big question in Matthew 22. When one of the religious leaders asks Jesus for the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus answers (as recorded in Matthew 22:36-40, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.” Then He goes on to provide the second greatest, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” adding “Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
The Great Commission shows up in Matthew’s writing, in Matthew 28:18-20, when Jesus tells His apostles, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Imagine how despised Matthew is when Jesus finds him. Contrast that with the love he receives from Jesus.
Thomas
In Thomas, we notice other personal characteristics that we might not want to share. As we’ve studied in the past, he is not the only one to doubt, but that seems to be his legacy and all that some know about him.
We don’t read very much about Thomas outside of his being listed with the other 11 apostles in the Gospels and in Acts. We don’t know about his trade. We don’t know about his education. We don’t know if he belongs to the Lions Club, the Kiwanas, a union, or the chamber of commerce. In John 11:16, he is referred to as Didymus, which means twin.
The first time we hear Thomas speak is there in that verse. Lazarus has died, and Jesus wants to go back to Bethany to visit the tomb and Lazarus’ family, but Thomas discourages Him, saying, “Let’s also go, so that we may die with Him!” I imagine this is kind of like saying, “Oh yeah, right! That’s a great idea, Jesus. Let’s all go back over there so we can all die with Lazarus!”
We are so glad that Thomas asks Jesus that all-important question in John 15:5f, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how do we know the way?” to which Jesus answers him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
And of course there is the occasion on which Thomas gains his nickname. After the resurrection of Jesus, with all of the remaining apostles together, except Thomas. Where is Thomas, by the way? It must be Providence that keeps him out of the loop for this return appearance by Christ, because we are provided the great example of his faith in John 20:24-29. When he finally shows up, the others can’t wait to tell him they’ve seen the risen Savior, and there’s where Thomas says he won’t ever believe such a thing: he says, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
When he is finally in the same room with Jesus, Jesus offers His hands and His side for Thomas to tactically feel the wounds, but Thomas immediately defers to the Christ. He says, simply but with tremendous and submissive belief, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus then says, “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
We all have those moments when we question our faith. Some of us at times have doubts that Jesus would or could possibly be who He claims to be. Many doubt that Jesus would ever forgive them. But Jesus always stands prepared to forgive anyone who repents and turns to Him. We see that with Thomas.
Tradition says that both of these leaders died as martyrs. Thomas most likely died in India, where he was stabbed with a spear. As for Matthew, there are conflicting reports, some saying he was burned, others claiming he was stoned, or stabbed, or beheaded with a halberd.
Conclusion
With each of these, we figure out that no matter our backgrounds, Jesus wants us to follow Him.
We see in the book penned by Matthew, a great invitation. It rests comfortably in Matthew 11:28-30, and it is an invitation that we continue to offer to the world in the name of Jesus. A familiar passage, it says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”
Matthew
First, we have Matthew. Scripture is pretty direct concerning Matthew. Mark 2:14 says, simply, “As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, ‘Follow Me!’ And he got up and followed Him.” Levi, the footnote says, is another name for Matthew, the universally-accepted author of the book of Matthew.
Every Gospel account records the calling of Matthew. There is no previous interaction between him and Jesus, so it sounds a little ridiculous to our ears. A stranger walks up and says, Follow me, and this Jewish tax collector for Rome suddenly and seemingly blindly quits his job to follow the stranger. There is more recorded about the Samaritan woman at the well, when Jesus talks to her about the Living Water and she drops her waterpot to follow Him. But is it possible that Matthew has already heard of Jesus? Could he have been exposed to the teaching of Jesus before this interaction?
There is, of course, more to Matthew’s acceptance of Jesus. Like the woman at the well, it seems that Matthew immediately wants to share Jesus with his peers. He puts together a dinner and invites others, including some fellow tax collectors, to come and meet Jesus. The religious leaders who are lurking around every corner trying to catch and police Jesus can’t stand it: they just can’t accept that now He is associating with vile and dishonest tax collectors. They might be afraid that a partnership with Rome could be established and that Jesus will bring the power of tax collection and the Roman government down on their own authority.
Then there is Jesus’s response in Luke 5:31f: “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.”
Is Matthew guilty by association? There isn’t any indication that he was dishonest in his position, but we also know how despised the tax collectors were (and perhaps still are). Matthew would have been considered a traitor to the Jews. He is an easy target for the Jews in Capernaum to hate. In fact, tax collectors like Matthew often found themselves in the same lists with prostitutes and low-level social outcasts. Nobody ever said that Jesus went out to find the popular citizens. He might have had an easier time of it if He had gone to the celebrities and the politicians, the powerful and the rich.
Matthew might have provided some commentary to people as they listened to all of the references that Jesus made to tax collectors. They heard the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18:10-14, for example, where Jesus contrasts the two characters - a Pharisee bragging about himself and looking down on the other man and the other man, the tax collector, standing in the corner, penitent, not even able to show his face before God. David Laton said, “I suspect Matthew hung on every word, fully understanding the emotion of the tax collector in the parable.”
Like Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector that Jesus encounters, it is not Matthew’s position that attracts the Savior’s attention. It’s not his rejection or his acceptance in the village that catches the eye of Christ. But it might be their sheer willingness to leave their wealth and follow.
Matthew records for us the Sermon on the Mount (in Matthew 5-7), in which Jesus helps us understand some direct and simple applications of God’s expectations of us.
Matthew outlines those extremely difficult words in Matthew 10:37-39: “The one who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and the one who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And the one who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. The one who has found his life will lose it, and the one who has lost his life on My account will find it.”
He also gives us the answer to the big question in Matthew 22. When one of the religious leaders asks Jesus for the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus answers (as recorded in Matthew 22:36-40, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.” Then He goes on to provide the second greatest, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” adding “Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
The Great Commission shows up in Matthew’s writing, in Matthew 28:18-20, when Jesus tells His apostles, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Imagine how despised Matthew is when Jesus finds him. Contrast that with the love he receives from Jesus.
Thomas
In Thomas, we notice other personal characteristics that we might not want to share. As we’ve studied in the past, he is not the only one to doubt, but that seems to be his legacy and all that some know about him.
We don’t read very much about Thomas outside of his being listed with the other 11 apostles in the Gospels and in Acts. We don’t know about his trade. We don’t know about his education. We don’t know if he belongs to the Lions Club, the Kiwanas, a union, or the chamber of commerce. In John 11:16, he is referred to as Didymus, which means twin.
The first time we hear Thomas speak is there in that verse. Lazarus has died, and Jesus wants to go back to Bethany to visit the tomb and Lazarus’ family, but Thomas discourages Him, saying, “Let’s also go, so that we may die with Him!” I imagine this is kind of like saying, “Oh yeah, right! That’s a great idea, Jesus. Let’s all go back over there so we can all die with Lazarus!”
We are so glad that Thomas asks Jesus that all-important question in John 15:5f, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how do we know the way?” to which Jesus answers him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
And of course there is the occasion on which Thomas gains his nickname. After the resurrection of Jesus, with all of the remaining apostles together, except Thomas. Where is Thomas, by the way? It must be Providence that keeps him out of the loop for this return appearance by Christ, because we are provided the great example of his faith in John 20:24-29. When he finally shows up, the others can’t wait to tell him they’ve seen the risen Savior, and there’s where Thomas says he won’t ever believe such a thing: he says, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
When he is finally in the same room with Jesus, Jesus offers His hands and His side for Thomas to tactically feel the wounds, but Thomas immediately defers to the Christ. He says, simply but with tremendous and submissive belief, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus then says, “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
We all have those moments when we question our faith. Some of us at times have doubts that Jesus would or could possibly be who He claims to be. Many doubt that Jesus would ever forgive them. But Jesus always stands prepared to forgive anyone who repents and turns to Him. We see that with Thomas.
Tradition says that both of these leaders died as martyrs. Thomas most likely died in India, where he was stabbed with a spear. As for Matthew, there are conflicting reports, some saying he was burned, others claiming he was stoned, or stabbed, or beheaded with a halberd.
Conclusion
With each of these, we figure out that no matter our backgrounds, Jesus wants us to follow Him.
We see in the book penned by Matthew, a great invitation. It rests comfortably in Matthew 11:28-30, and it is an invitation that we continue to offer to the world in the name of Jesus. A familiar passage, it says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”
