St. Matthew, Apostle & Evangelizer

St. Matthew was both an Apostle, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus and an Evangelist, for he wrote the very first Gospel.
Matthew is spoken of five times in the New Testament; first in Matthew 9:9, when called by Jesus to follow Him, and then four times in the list of the Apostles, where he is mentioned in the seventh (Luke 6:15, and Mark 3:18), and again in the eighth place (Matthew 10:3, andActs1:13). The man designated in Matthew 9:9, as "sitting in the custom house", and "named Matthew" is the same as Levi, recorded in Mark 2:14, and Luke 5:27, as "sitting at the receipt of custom". The account in the three Synoptics is identical, the vocation of Matthew-Levi being alluded to in the same terms. Hence Levi was the original name of the man who was subsequently called Matthew; the Maththaios legomenos of Matthew 9:9, would indicate this.(courtesy of Catholic Encyclopedia) Matthew is writing to his Jewish brethren, both believers and non-believers. Matthew begins with the Genealogy of Jesus that establishes and proves he was a descendant of King David demonstrating that Jesus was the Messiah as prophised in the Old Testatment. He writes to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God who is announcing the beginning of his Messianic Kingdom. Matthew writes of the many miracles of Jesus, the commisioning of the 12 Apostles, the preaching of the Beatitudes, the Passion, Death & Resurrection, and "the Great Commision to "go and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." Matthew is represented in Christian art as the "winged man", the desciption found in Revelation4:7. The two significant things to me as I see Matthew is that he was first a "tax collector", now tax collectors were not seen as very high in the social strata. They were hated and despised. Jesus chose Matthew like he chose me, another despicable creature not worthy of Him.The second signifcant point is that Matthew wrote the very first Gospel, and how fitting that one who spent his time living, eating, walking, listening to Jesus and witnessing his glory and splendor would give the world his eye witness acount. The Holy Spirit works in that wonderous way, doesn't he?