Saint Matthew Apostle & Evangelist
September 21 is the church festival of “Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist” and we’ll celebrate our namesake that Sunday in the readings, a banner, sermon & songs.
Matthew (named “Levi” in the gospels of Mark and Luke) was a tax collector for the Roman government in Capernaum. Tax collectors were distrusted because they were dishonest and worked as agents for a foreign government, the occupying Romans. In the gospels, tax collectors are mentioned as sinful and despised outcasts, but it was these outcasts to whom Jesus showed his love.
Matthew’s name translates “gift of the Lord.” Since the second century, tradition has attributed the first gospel to him.
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