Matthew 9:9

And as Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man, called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll: and, he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

How many of Jesus' mighty deeds were done "as he passed by"? (John 9:1; Matthew 4:18; 9:27; Mark 11:20, etc.). He seized the golden chances as they came. Whatever came to hand, that he did to the glory of God. Note that he saw "a man." Some would have seen only a tax collector, but Jesus saw the scholarly student of the prophecies, the human heart that beat beneath the tax-taker's shirt. Disciples in this generation would do well to follow his example. How often men's eyes are blinded by prejudice, social bias, or self-interest, and they fail to see "the man." They see instead a banker, a policeman, a farmer, a negro, a doorman, a taxi driver, a soldier, a grocer, etc. How comforting is the thought that the Saviour always saw (and sees) the man, whatever the outward circumstances that may disguise him from his fellows! One wonders if this call of Matthew was as spontaneous as it seems from this brief account of it. Very probably, Matthew, like the four fishermen, already had some knowledge of Christ and his teachings when the call occurred. The brevity of this account shows the humility and modesty which characterized this ancient publican who rose to such heights in the service of the Lord.

Matthew's call was a challenge to the Pharisees and other snobbish groups of that day. A publican was a social outcast. Nothing good was expected of such a person; and, in this call, Jesus showed that the church has a mission to the downtrodden as well as to others.

Adam Clarke makes this feast to occur in the house of Matthew, as indicated in Luke 5:29.[2] Publicans were renters of the Roman taxes, an occupation particularly odious to the Jews, and the more so on the part of one of their own race who was thus leagued with the despised oppressors of the land. PUBLICANS and SINNERS were synonymous terms in the culture of that day. That the Messiah would attend a feast with such a man and even name him to the apostleship was a fact which few people of that day, especially the rulers, could accept with any degree of tolerance. Their bitterness toward the despised and socially unacceptable masses was the prime reason for their failure to recognize Jesus as their Lord. Snobbishness is still a reality in many hearts, and its effect of spiritual blindness are just as real and fatal now as then.