“And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.”
As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him — the call of Levi mirrors the call of Simon and Andrew (Mark 1:16–18): Jesus sees, Jesus calls, the called one leaves immediately. Levi son of Alphaeus is almost certainly the Matthew of Matthew 9:9. Tax collectors (telōnai) collected tariffs on goods crossing regional boundaries; they were despised for their collaboration with Rome, their potential for extortion, and their ritual impurity from constant contact with Gentile goods and money. Jesus' call of a tax collector as a disciple is as socially provocative as any miracle in the Gospel.
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