Hi James and Ellen,
Matthew – who was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, wrote a memoir anthology. Before Matthew found himself with a band of guys who Jesus capriciously selected to be His twelve disciples, Matthew’s vocation was collecting taxes. Matthew did his tax collecting day job in the city of Capernaum, Judea. After Matthew immediately did what Jesus asked that he do – which was to follow Him as one of His disciples, Matthew invited his former tax collector colleagues to a banquet at his house so that they could meet Jesus – leaving your grandpaa to surmise that Matthew was probably a wealthy dude and well educated. Because Matthew’s name means ‘gift of Yahweh’ – with Yahweh being the name used for God that means ‘He causes to be’ or ‘He is Who He is’, your grandpaa also surmises that Matthew was born to an Israelite/Jewish people group dad and ma who were faithful God-followers who knew that their kid was a special gift who had been given to them from God. Because of how Mathew instantly dropped what he was doing as a tax collector to do what Jesus asked him to do and because of his focus to carefully document in his journals – which he used to edit over time a manuscript that was given his name, that Jesus was the awaited for Messiah/king, your grandpaa also surmises that Matthew – because of his being very probably educated in and his comprehension of the Torah and Septuagint, Matthew was himself a faithful God-follower.
Matthew’s completed book probably began to be circulated sometime between 60 A.D. and 70 A.D. or around 35 years after Matthew saw his fellow Israelite/Jewish compatriots who living in the city of Jerusalem getting their wish to have his mentor – who was Jesus, die by being inhumanely hung on and nailed to a cross. Because of how Matthew begins scribing his missive – which is Jesus’ genealogy from Abraham’s lineage through David’s lineage, your grandpaa thinks that Matthew may have been a Septuagint historical buff. Because Matthew used Greek to scribe what he penned, your grandpaa thinks that Matthew wanted both Jews and non-Jews to read about Who Jesus was. It could be read into that Jesus selected Matthew to be one of his disciples because of Matthew’s hardwired skill as the kind of record keeper that a tax collector needed to be so that Jesus would have someone in His pool of twelve disciples who had the training and talent to record in detail His birth, life and death along with recounting as accurately as possible His teaching messages and ministry outreaches. Your grandpaa envisions Matthew during the years between when he trekked with Jesus as Jesus was doing His planet Earth assignment and when he finally got his Matthew Book on the city of Jerusalem bookstands collating his notes that he took during the two or three years that he spent going with Jesus to the places that Jesus went to and the notes that he took while doing research on Jesus as being the expected Messiah/king. Of the three Synoptic Gospels, the Matthew Book is the most quoted. Matthew ends the 28 chapters in his Matthew Book with an unmistakably clear Great Commission mandate from Jesus for all His followers to make disciples and to teach these new disciples what they learned from knowing Him.
Even though tax collecting nearly 2,000 years ago was a maligned, detested occupation that would often have unscrupulous guys doing the work, Matthew seems to have been to your grandpaa a principled guy. Your grandpaa knows from experience that one of the most invaluable guys or gals on a field missionary team is the guy or gal who is able to accurately and expeditiously keep up with the field finances. During the three years that your grandpaa was the field director for the Bolivia field missionary team and the six years that he was the field director for the Guatemala field missionary team, your grandmaa was the field bookkeeper/treasurer. After your dad was born, your grandmaa began working as the bookkeeper in Mullins – which was a clothing store that was located in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. After Liberty Loan asked your grandpaa to transfer to Massachusetts to manage their loan office in Springfield, your grandmaa found work as the head bookkeeper for an insurance agency that was located in Springfield. Your grandmaa at times still wishes that she had continued taking the classes needed to become a CPA. Your grandmaa really enjoys the challenges that go with working with ledgers and with balancing numbers. Even though your grandmaa is really good at details – which makes her a really good bookkeeper, your grandmaa is also really good at creating a group atmosphere or ambience that is fun and that has a family feel about it. Because your grandmaa can do things in a quality way, because her smile always lightens up a room and because she conveys a genuine interest in those around her, your grandmaa is someone who guys, gals and kids find easy to like and trust. Even though your grandmaa has a lot of innate abilities that inspire guys, gals and kids to want to hear what she has to say and to follow her lead, your grandmaa has never aspired for recognition or leadership. Your grandmaa would have been quite content to have been able to live her entire life in the same house in the same town versus what your grandmaa has acquiesced to do over the past 36 years as a missionary. Your grandpaa has been very blessed for the past 48 years having your grandmaa as his wife. Matthew’s over 1,950 year old inclusive and accurate exposé of what Jesus did and went through while He was on planet Earth is a blessing to Christ-follower guys, gals and kids.
Matthew