A two-part series from the Gospel of Matthew...

The Green Thread: Two Men (One Dead) Talk About Money, Part One

by Brenda Evans

Matthew worked in it every day, coddled it—was possessed by it.

Then one day he left it. Simply got up and walked out. Quit his money, his power, and his associates who were greedy sediments of society like him. The shruggers of Capernaum probably said: “He just left everything.”

I figure he explained himself at the dinner he gave for Jesus later in the week. That he had been a greedy man, a finagler, and a cheat. Had squeezed some, extorted others, lied to most. Been in alliance with Rome, barred from the synagogue, and driven away decent friends. He had loved money and was publicly acknowledging it, for it was a public sin. “But I’ve left everything and will never go back,” he must have said.

What we know about Matthew from that day on is scant, for little is written in the Gospels, including his own. One fact is clear: Jesus awakened Matthew’s conscience, drew his heart from mammon to God, and brought him to repentance. After the Upper Room in Acts 1, Scripture clamps shut and stays silent on Matthew.

Only a few passages in his 25,000-word gospel crack open the door. Of course, Matthew’s purpose for writing a narrative of Jesus’ life is to unveil Him as Savior and King. So there is a genealogy, a birth, a death, and a triumphant resurrection interspersed with the Savior-King’s ministry of miracles, parables, and discourses.

Along the way, Matthew also weaves a subtle but shrewd green thread into his story of Jesus. This green thread emerges from his own tax-collecting experience. Matthew knew the good and the bad of the green stuff, and under the Holy Spirit’s direction, he described its power, especially for harm.

For example, he stitches nine oblique references to his despicable past into his narrative. The other synoptic writers link tax collectors (or publicans) generically to sinners, but Matthew ties them to the lowest of the low—heathens and harlots. His word choice is a silent but clever testimony: such was I—tax collector. May as well have been heathen or harlot. But no more (See 11:19; 18:17; 21:31,32).

And he alone of the gospel writers adds a descriptive phrase “the publican” when he lists himself among the 12 Apostles (10:2-4). Matthew never forgot what was on the other side of that bridge he had burned one bright day in Capernaum when Jesus said, “Follow me.”

What Money Will Not Buy

Often Matthew’s green thread shows up when he details Jesus’ teachings or parables that the other gospel writers omit. One example is his comment on what money will not buy, smack in the middle of Jesus’ hard remarks about anger, hatred, and murder. Matthew says Jesus warned that if you take your gift (or sacrifice) to the altar and remember your brother has a grievance against you, you should go reconcile with him then return with your gift (5:23,24).

His point is that gifts to the Lord do not buy right relationships. Anger, hatred, grievance, or trouble with our fellowman is trouble with God. A gift to God would never remedy Matthew’s problems with people.

As a Mokhes, Matthew had every opportunity to exploit and oppress the people of Capernaum. The tax gathering of a Gabbai was well-regulated by Rome. But a Mokhes was free to assess and collect as he chose. A man without conscience, as Lorman Petersen says, could “exploit beyond measure.” Imports, exports, bridges, roads, harbors, pack animals, carts, goods, and pedestrians—Matthew had access to them all. Every bale, package, letter could be opened and taxed at his whim, according to Alfred Edersheim. Matthew knew about grievances. The list was long against him, and money had settled none of his troubles.

What Money Can Buy

On the other hand, Matthew makes it clear that money can buy some things—a man, for example, especially his heart and his tongue. All the gospel writers describe how money stoked Judas’ greed and fueled his sell-out.

But Matthew alone recounts Judas’ last words, a cry really, “I have sinned...I have betrayed the innocent blood,” and then his self-slaughter (27:3-5). Ill-gotten money bought Judas’ heart and eventually his burial ground. Matthew understood that. Giving back the money did not revoke the betrayal or reverse its consequences. Matthew understood that, too.

In another sell-out scene that only Matthew records, Jewish leaders bought the tongues of the guards at Jesus’ tomb. For a large sum of money, the guards agreed to tell a lie—that Jesus’ disciples came at night and stole his body. In return, the elders promised to appease the governor and corroborate their lie (28:11-15). Matthew knows that money buys minds, hearts, even words.

What Is Most Valuable

Another green thread that shows up only in Matthew is found in The Treasure and The Pearl, two parables Jesus spoke privately to His disciples (13:44-46). Both point to the “incalculable preciousness of salvation,” as William Hendriksen says. When Jesus called and he followed, Matthew learned the value of forgiveness was beyond measure. Salvation in Christ was a treasure—a pearl of inestimable value that called a man to leave all, sell all, and yield all.

As far as I can tell from the gospel narratives, none among the apostles gave up vocationally more than Matthew. He left his tax table and never went back. Peter and the other fishermen briefly returned to their business after Jesus’ death (John 21:1-3). But symbolically, Matthew had cut off his hands; they would never grasp another crooked dollar. He would never throw his pearl to pigs.

What Motivates Matters

Matthew the tax collector was a materialist. Getting, having, and holding were his modi operandi. Yet the first thing he does after following Jesus is burn big bucks throwing a dinner party. Everybody who was anybody was there—Jesus and His critics included. I think it was an “evangelistic meal” to showcase the Savior of sinners.

It is almost as if Matthew blew a trumpet and said, “Come and see the party I’m throwing for Jesus and all these people,” and that is interesting in light of what he says about tooting our trumpets when we do good things. Specifically, he mentions alms to the poor. Do it in secret, without making a show, he says, and quotes Jesus to support his point (6:3-4).

Matthew’s motive for the dinner wasn’t alms and generosity. It was about the life-changing Savior. Why do we entertain or give gifts, tithes, and offerings? Generosity is about inner lavishness, not outer. About praise of God, not praise of man. Matthew alone among the Gospels makes this point and sticks it to us again when Jesus warns about doing any good thing just for people to see (23:5).

Matthew knew about wrong motives toward “our stuff” because he had been there. Greed, selfishness, small hearts, and closed hands—all are part of the subtle green thread he loops in and out of Jesus’ story as if to say, “Trust me, former tax collectors know about money.”

Matthew is dead but his understated warnings are alive with cautions about our devotion to the green stuff. Next time, I’ll look at The Red Thread, Jesus’ own words about money in the Matthew's Gospel.

About the Writer: Brenda Evans is a retired English teacher. She and her husband Bill (former director of the Free Will Baptist Foundation) live in Cattletsburg, KY. They are proud grandparents of seven. Learn more about the Foundation at www.fwbgifts.org.