SO GREAT were the crowds gathering from all parts of the land to see and
hear Jesus, that no place could be found in the city of Capernaum large
enough to hold the multitudes. The church was far too small; and there
were no open places in the city where so great a company could meet. So
every day Jesus went out of the city to the seaside, sometimes sitting
in Peter's boat, sometimes upon the shore, while all the people stood
upon the grass-covered hillside, with the blue sky above them and the
blue lake before them, while Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God and
showed how every man could enter into the kingdom by turning from his
sins and doing God's will.
Among these crowds of people Jesus noticed one man standing, who
listened closely to every word. This man was named Levi-Matthew. He was
an officer of the government, called "a publican"; and it was his work
to gather the taxes which the Roman rulers had laid upon the people.
Everybody was called upon to pay money to the Romans, who were the
rulers of the land. The people hated the Romans, who held the land under
their power, and hated also these tax-gatherers, who were often selfish
and unjust men, making the people pay more than they should, robbing the
poor and taking much of the money for themselves instead of paying it to
the Roman treasury. Because many of these tax-gatherers or publicans
were cruel and selfish, all of them were looked upon as wicked. They
were called "publicans and sinners," and the people despised them.
One day Jesus was passing the office where Levi-Matthew sat at his table
receiving the tax-money from the people. Jesus looked at the publican
and said to him, "Come, follow me!" At once Levi-Matthew rose up, left
his clerks and helpers to care for the money on the table, and went
after Jesus. From that hour he was no longer a tax-collector; he became
a disciple of Jesus, and followed him wherever he went, listening to his
words and keeping them in his mind and memory. Many years afterward,
when Jesus was no longer among men, Matthew wrote a book telling of what
Jesus said and did. That book is the Gospel according to Matthew, the
first book in the New Testament; and it tells what Matthew remembered of
the teachings and acts of the Lord Jesus. So it was well for the people
who lived after the time of Jesus, and for all the people who through
the ages since have read that gospel, and for the millions all over the
world who now read it, that Matthew the tax-gatherer became a disciple
of Jesus. But for this man's prompt obedience to Christ's call on that
day, that precious book would never have been written.
Matthew wished his fellow-publicans to meet Jesus and hear his words. He
gave a supper at his house to Jesus, and invited all the publicans or
tax-gatherers in that part of the country to come. Many of them came,
and with their friends sat down to the supper with Jesus. The Pharisees,
who were enemies of Jesus, looked scornfully at Jesus sitting at the
table with all the tax-gatherers around him. They said to the disciples
of Jesus:
"Why does your Teacher eat with those publicans and sinners?"
They told Jesus of these words, and he answered:
"Those who are well and strong have no need of a doctor, but only those
who are sick. I did not come to call those who think themselves good,
but those who know that they are sinful and want to be saved. But let
those Pharisees learn the meaning of the text where God says, 'I prefer
those who show kindness and mercy, to those who offer sacrifices upon
the altar.'"
This pointed to the Pharisees themselves, for while they were careful
about fasting and saying their prayers and making their offerings in the
Temple, they were often unjust and hard toward the poor.
[Illustration: Mosque El Aksa, near the ancient Temple]
[Illustration: Jesus saw lying there upon a mat a man who had been
helpless and unable to walk for almost forty years. He said to him:
"Would you like to be made well?"]
The Cripple at the Bath