Do You Matter?
Today is the Feast of St. Matthew, an apostle and evangelist. The first gospel found in the New Testament is named after him, but mainly we remember Matthew as the tax collector called by Jesus. Tax collectors were considered cheats and would use every opportunity for theft and extortion. They were needed by the Roman government to collect taxes from the Jews, yet Matthew was a commodity that could be replaced by someone else. To the Jewish people, his people, Matthew was considered an outsider, an outcast. He was not welcome in the synagogue, and he was considered “dead” to his family. Matthew must have wondered, “Do I Matter to Anyone?”