1. Matthew the Tax Collector

The apostle Matthew was a tax collector. Tax collectors collected taxes for the Romans and often took more than required. They were despised by the Jews. One day Jesus saw Matthew sitting at the tax booth and said, “Follow me.” Matthew left everything and followed him.

2. Matthew’s Banquet

Matthew gave a banquet in honor of Jesus. Many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. The Pharisees asked, “Why does your teacher eat with sinners?” Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

3. Choosing the Apostles

Jesus chose twelve disciples and named them apostles: Simon (Peter), Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed him. He chose them to be with him and to preach.