Matthew & THomas
Good morning and welcome to Sunday School.
today we continue our series on the apostles.
· We said that the apostles could be divided into three groups of 12.
· We spent a great deal of time on the first group: Peter, Andrew, James, and John.
· Last week we looked at in the first two in the second group - Phillip and Nathaniel.
· We said that these six apostles knew each other, worked with each other, and basically got along well with each other.
As we begin today's study, we will be meeting the next 2 men Jesus called to be among the 12.
Unlike Peter and Andrew or James and John these apostles are not related. And unlike Phillip and Nathaniel, we will see that they were not even close friends. Well, we actually don’t know that for certain, because not a lot is revealed about the remaining six apostles.
· What we do know is that all 12 apostles, except Judas Iscariot, were from Galilee.
· the region was predominantly rural and composed of small towns and villages.
· the people who live there were commoners -- fishermen and farmers.
We also know that the religious establishment of the day practiced their own religion. They had taken the law and run with it, imposing rules and regulations to suit their own needs. We looked quite a bit when we discussed Jesus overturning the money changers tables.
We also know that the Jewish establishment did not recognize Jesus as messiah. They saw him performing miracles but they could not equate miracle working power with the messiah. It's not like they could deny the miracles. They happened right in front of them.
They saw Jesus as an intruder. He was the enemy. In fact some even said that his miracle power came from Beelzebub. He was out there are preaching against their false practices and from day one they sought to have him murdered. (Luke 4:28-29)
Let me emphasize what irritated the religious leaders was not the miracles, in fact some were secretly cool with that. What irritated the Pharisees and the Sadducees was being called sinners. Remember Jesus came, just as John had come before him, preaching repentance. He said that they were sinners, wretched, poor, blind, and lost, under the bondage of their own iniquity and needing forgiveness and cleansing. It was his message they hated. And because he would not renounce his message, they conspired to kill him.
Who do you think would be hated just as much as Jesus would? probably his apostles. They supported and believed what he said. Today were looking at 2 apostles who believed Jesus and were willing to give up everything to follow him. This morning will be looking at Matthew and Thomas
Matthew is also called by his Jewish name, Levi. His father's name is Alpheaus. Luke calls him Levi when he records his call and then Matthew when he lists the 12. Matthew is the gospel writer Matthew. Now, you would think that we could tell a lot about him from his writing, like we did with Peter & John, But the truth is he was a very humble man, who kept himself almost completely in the background in his writing. In fact he only mentions his own name twice, once when he records his call and the other when he lists all 12 apostles.
What do we know about Matthew? Matthew was a tax collector and a publican.
· tax collectors in Jesus days were the most despised people in all of Israel.
· They were hated and vilified by all Jewish society.
· They were deemed lower than Herodians. Herodians were Jews loyal to the dynasty of Herod.
· People actually hated them more than they hated the occupying Roman soldier's.
· Publicans were men who bought tax franchises from the Roman emperor and then extorted money from the people of Israel.
· They fed the Roman coffers and a padded their own pockets aw well.
· publicans often strong-armed money out of people with the use of thugs.
· They were despicable, vile, and unprincipled scoundrels.
Turn with me to Matthew 9
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
Later
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples.
Luke tells us that it was an enormous banquet held in Jesus' honor. Matthew had invited a number of his fellow tax collectors and other social outcasts to meet Jesus.
Why do you think Matthew invited these kinds of people to come and meet Jesus? Probably because these were the only type of people who would associate with Matthew.
Matthew didn't know any of the social elite. And no Pharisee or Sadducee would have anything to do with the tax collector. that would be like associating with a prostitute only worse, of course.
Matthew’s occupation made him a traitor to his church. As such he would have been forbidden to enter a synagogue. We must of course remember that Matthew was a Jew. Remember his Jewish name was Levi? Matthew had be excommunicated, or thrown out of the synagogue when he became a tax collector.
11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
It should come as no surprise that the religious leaders of the day would waste no time criticizing Jesus and his apostles for associating with the lowest of the low, the tax collector.
Now tax collectors were hired by the Roman government to collect taxes. There was an unspoken agreement between the tax collectors and the Roman emperor that said as long as Rome got what it required, the tax collectors could keep the rest.
Rabbit Trail: there were two kinds of tax collectors, the Gabbai and the Mokhes.
· The Gabbai were general tax collectors.
· They collected property tax, income tax, and poll tax.
· These taxes were set by official assessments.
· So it wasn't it easy to cheat the people if you were a Gabbai tax collector.
· Now the Mokhes collected taxes on imports and exports, goods for domestic trade, actually anything that moved by road.
· They set tolls on roads and bridges.
· They taxed beast on burdens and axles on your wagons
· they charged taxes on parcels, letters, and whatever else they felt like taxing.
· They assessed how much the tax would be.
Now there were two types of Mokhes - the Great Mokhes and the Little Mokhes.
· A great Mokhes stayed behind the scenes and hired others to collect the taxes for him.
· Zaccheus was apparently a great Mokhes because Luke described him as a "chief tax collector" (Luke 19:2)
· Matthew was apparently a little Mokhes because he manned the tax office and met people face-to-face (Matt 9:9)
Not think about it which one would you hate more, the guy behind this scenes or the guy right in front of your face?
What made Matthew more despicable to the Jews is that he was one of them. We will always have tax collectors with us, Anybody know an IRS agent or have a relative who does your taxes? Sure it hurts when you have to pay taxes, but when your friend or family member gives you the bad news you feel worse, like maybe they should have done something to help you out.
People hated Matthew more than they hated the other tax collectors. After all, no self-respecting Jew in his right mind would ever choose to be a tax collector. by doing so Matthew had effectively cut himself off not only from his own people, but from his God, because he was banned from the synagogue and forbidden to sacrifice or worship in the temple. therefore he was worse off than a Gentile.
it must have been shocking to Matthew when Jesus called him. It came clear out of the blue. Jesus saw him sitting in the tax office and simply said, "follow me". Matthew responded instantly and without hesitation. He arose and followed him, abandoning the tax office. He left his tollbooth and walked away from his profession for ever.
His decision was your reversible as soon as he made it. Believe me there was no shortage of money-grubbing people ready to take over that tax franchise. As soon as he stepped away someone else stepped in and took over. Imagine leaving everything behind you…
We can deduce that Matthew must have missed worshiping in the synagogue. After all deep down inside he was a Jew. We know that he was a scholar of the Old Testament and he was spiritually hungry.
Why did I say that he was a scholar of the Old Testament? Well if you look at the gospel of Matthew, you will see that he quotes the Old Testament 99 times. That's more than Mark, Luke, and John put together! We know that he was a social outcast; he would have had to study the scriptures on his own. This is testimony to the power of God working in Matthew. He studied the scriptures without anyone other than the Holy Spirit helping him interpret them.
No doubt he had read the prophecies about Jesus. And no doubt from his location in the tax booth, he would have heard about the miracles performed by Jesus. We know that the Holy Spirit was working in Matthew's life because he had enough faith to drop everything and followed Jesus.
It is also interesting to know that three tax collectors are specifically mentioned in the Gospels. Each time they are looking for forgiveness.
· Matthew,
· Zaccheus (Luke 19:2-10)
· And Luke 18:9-14
Let’s go there
9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
Notice the tax collector stood a far off. He had to, he would've never been permitted passed the court of the Gentiles in the temple. In fact tax collectors were so hated that they had to keep their distance from Jews just like people with diseases.
The Talmud or the writings of the Rabbis taught that
it was righteous to lie and deceive the tax collector because that's what a professional exporter deserved.
But Jesus said,
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
What else does Scripture say about undesirables and Jesus ministry to them?
Luke records (15:1)
"all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to him to hear him."
Matthew himself records (21:31-32)
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
That's all Scripture tells us about Matthew. He was a man of quiet humility, who love the outcasts and had great faith to surrender all and followed Jesus. We look at the gospel of Matthew and one theme runs throughout -- forgiveness.
What do we learn from Matthew?
For parents who have sowed into the lives of our children, we must remember that God honors that seed. I am sure that when Matthew’s parents sent him to the synagogue for instruction as a young man, they never considered that one day their son would be a tax collector. God honored the prayers of Matthew’s parents and continued to woo their son back to him.
I don’t know why I’m saying this, but we must also remember that we do not have control over our grown children’s lives. Sometimes they will make choices that we may not agree with. We must recognize that they too have free will and God will allow them to walk down roads we would have not chosen for them. This does not mean that he has abandoned them. What Matthew shows us is that God will continue to call them back to him.
Tradition tells us that Matthew ministered to the Jews in Israel and abroad for many years before being martyred for his faith. Tradition tells us that he was burned at the stake. Matthew was willing to give it all the Jesus even to the end.
Thomas
The final apostle in the second group of 4 also has a familiar name to us -- Thomas. He is usually nicknamed “doubting Thomas”, but we will see that that may not be a fitting label for him.
· Thomas was a negative person.
· He was a worrywart.
· He was a brooder, he sat in thought things over and over and over.
· He had panic attacks and anticipated the worst at all times.
Pessimism, not doubt, was his greatest sin.
Thomas is also called Didymus which means twin. We don't know if that was a twin brother or a twin sister because his twin is never mentioned in Scripture.
Thomas is mentioned once in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, -- when they list the 12. Everything we know about Thomas comes from John's gospel. According to John, Thomas had a tendency to look at the dark side of everything.
However, if we want to see his true character, the character Jesus saw when he called him, we need to look at John 11
This is the passage that comes before the raising of Lazarus. Jesus had left Jerusalem because his life was in jeopardy.
He and the apostles went into the wilderness, near the area where John had baptized Jesus. He stayed there for a while in people came out to hear him preach. John tells us that many souls were being converted and Jesus was free to minister to them without the oppression of the Jewish religious rulers.
But something happened to interrupt their time in the wilderness.
John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
They knew that if Jesus came to Lazarus he would be able to heal him.
But this proses a problem for Jesus, if he went to close too Jerusalem, he would be walking into the worst kind of hostility. The Jewish leaders were set to seize and kill him. And If he returned to Bethany, they would certainly find out and try to seize him there.
4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
The disciples must have been relieved by that answer. They thought Jesus was saying that the sickness would blow over and then they wouldn't have to go near an area where their lives would be in jeopardy.
What Jesus actually meant was that death would not be the ultimate result of this sickness. Jesus knew all the time the Lazarus would die. Jesus, as God, knew the hour of Lazarus' death.
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.
Of first this seems strange thing to say. Jesus loves Lazarus and his family, so he stayed a while where he was, and waited for Lazarus to die us? So how is this an active love? The blessing they received when Lazarus was raised from the dead was a bigger blessing and if he had merely been healed up his sickness. God received a greater glory. His friends Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, as well as the apostles, all have their faith strengthened in a phenomenal way.
By Jesus waiting 2 more days, Lazarus would have already been the dead for four days by the time Jesus arrived.
7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
The disciples of course thought this was crazy.
8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
In other words, there's no need for Jesus to skulk around in the dark like a common criminal. He knew that he had a job and a mission to accomplish and he was going to do it. He said this to calm them down and reassure them that they had nothing to fear. God controlled the hour.
11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”
The disciples could not see the urgency. Jesus had already told him that the sickness was not on to death. They thought Lazarus was on the road to recovery.
12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”
Okay now they understood. Jesus had to go back.
16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
Now that is pessimistic Thomas. he could see nothing but disaster ahead, and yet his pessimism is heroic pessimism. He was convinced that Jesus was headed straight for a stoning. But if that was what Jesus was determined to do, Thomas was determined to go with him, even if that meant dying with him. You have to admire Thomas' courage.
It's not easy being a pessimist. In fact it's a miserable way to live. An optimist would say,
“let's go, everything will work out, the Lord knows what he's doing, he says we won't stumble, we'll all be fine.
But the pessimist says,
“he's going to die and we're going to die with him”.
Thomas at least had the courage to be loyal despite his pessimism.
Now When we think about a loyal apostle, we think of John. John had an intimate relationship with Jesus. he was the one Jesus loved. But from this account we can see that Thomas didn't want to live without Jesus.
Thomas is an example of strength to the rest of the apostles and to us too. His deep devotion to Christ could not be dampened even by his own pessimism.
Another example of Thomas's profound love shows up again in John 14. We looked at this passage in detail when we studied Phillip. This is where Jesus told the apostles that he was going to prepare a place for them. In verse 5 Thomas was the one who pipes up and says, “Lord, we don't know where you're going”. Again pessimistic.
“You’re leaving? We don't know how to get there.
How are we supposed to get there?
It was a better plan for us to die with you. That way we would all be together.
But if you go away, how are we ever going to find you?”
Here is a man with deep love, A man whose relationship with Christ is so strong that he never wanted to be separated from him. His heart was broken just hearing Jesus speak about leaving them. Thomas had become so attached to Jesus that he would rather die can live without him.
And for Thomas his worst fears came to pass. Jesus died and he didn't.
The next time we see Thomas is in John 20.
After Jesus death, all the disciples were in deep sorrow but they got together to comfort one another -- All of them except for Thomas. The apostles had locked themselves in the room somewhere, most likely Jerusalem.
John 20:19-20
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Thomas missed the whole thing. Why wasn't he there? It's possible that his negative, pessimistic, melancholy personality had taken over and he was off somewhere wallowing in his own misery. We must remember that His worst fears had been realized -- Jesus was gone. Thomas no doubt may well have felt betrayed, rejected, or forsaken. When you feel like that, the last thing you want his company. Thomas just wanted to be alone.
24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
Now remember someone in that kind of mood is not going to get cheered up very easily. In fact he may have thought they were trying to pull the wool over his eyes. That's why he responded the way he did
And because of that statement he's been nicknamed "doubting Thomas". But don't be too hard on Thomas. remember the other disciples didn't believe until they saw for themselves. They thought he was a ghost. He had to ask them to bring him some food, so he could eat and show them he was real. (Mark 16:10-11)
And the two disciples on the road to Emmaus walked with him for a long time before they recognized him. Then they went to tell the rest and nobody believed. But once Jesus showed up in their midst and showed his hands and his side did they believe.
It's important for us to remember that they were all slow to believe. What sets Thomas apart from the others is not that he is doubt was greater, but his sorrow was greater
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
This time Thomas was with them. No one needed to tell Jesus what Thomas had said. Jesus looked right at Thomas
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Jesus was amazingly gentle with him. Jesus could have rebuked Thomas for his lack of faith, or his pessimism, but Jesus realized that Thomas’ doubt came from his profound love and desire to be with Jesus. Jesus understands our weaknesses.
Then Thomas made the greatest statement ever to come from the lips of the apostles…
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Suddenly Thomas’ melancholy, negative, pessimistic attitude was forever banished. Jesus had gone from Messiah to Lord and God. Thomas had the revelation and was instantly transformed into a great evangelist.
What do we learn from Thomas?
That there is hope. That no matter how much we worry ourselves sick, or how often we focus on the negative, the truth is that Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us.
We also learn that great men of faith have doubts. We worry about failing God. We worry about messing up and having think God will desert us. Or we face huge trials and think we are going through it alone.
Thank God that HE is patient, kind, loving and understanding. If Matthew was our example that God forgives, than Thomas’ example illustrates the assurance of forgiveness. The truth is some of us still need to see to believe. That’s why we have more than the anointing, in the glory - that’s why we have miracles.
Thomas is referenced again and again in the writings of the early church. He is said to have founded churches as far from Jerusalem as India. Tradition tells us that Thomas is buried on a small hill near the city of Chennai or Madras, India.
Many churches in the south of India can trace their roots back to the beginning of the church age under Thomas.
Thomas is said to have been martyred by being run through with the spear. The significance of this is not lost in on us because it was when Thomas put his hand in the spear mark on Jesus side that he made his confession of his faith.
