ficial collectors of taxes, sitting at the custom-house where the
tariff levied under Roman law had to be paid. This man was known also as
Matthew, a name less distinctively Jewish than is Levi.[421] He
afterward became one of the Twelve and the author of the first of the
evangelical Gospels. To him Jesus said, "Follow me." Matthew left his
place and followed the Lord. Some time later the new disciple provided a
great feast at his house, in honor of the Master; and other disciples
were present. So obnoxious to the Jews was the power of Rome to which
they were subject, that they regarded with aversion all officials in
Roman employ. Particularly humiliating to them was the system of
compulsory taxation, by which they, the people of Israel, had to pay
tribute to an alien nation, which in their estimation was wholly pagan
and heathen.

Naturally, the collectors of these taxes were abhorred; and they, known
as publicans, probably resented the discourteous treatment by
inconsiderate enforcement of the tax requirements, and, as affirmed by
historians, often inflicted unlawful extortion upon the people. If
publicans in general were detested, we can readily understand how bitter
would be the contempt in which the Jews would hold one of their own
nation who had accepted appointment as such an official. In this
unenviable status was Matthew when Jesus called him. The publicans
formed a distinct social class, for from the community in general they
were practically ostracized. All who associated with them were made to
share in the popular odium, and "publicans and sinners" became a common
designation for the degraded caste. To Matthew's feast many of his
friends and some of his fellow officials were invited, so that the
gathering was largely made up of these despized "publicans and sinners."
And to such an assemblage went Jesus with His disciples.

The scribes and Pharisees could not let pass such an opportunity for
faultfinding and caustic criticism. They hesitated to address themselves
directly to Jesus, but of the disciples they asked in disdain: "Why
eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?" The Master heard, and
replied with edifying incisiveness mingled with splendid irony. Citing
one of the common aphorisms of the day, He said: "They that be whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick." To this He added: "I am
not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." The
hypercritical Pharisees were left to ma