Verse 7

Verse 7: “’Get up. Take your bed and go home.’ And the man got up and went home.” 

Look how the work of the Lord changed him. He was carried in a bed. Now he is strong enough to carry the bed and go home. This is same with others, too. The leper became healthy. The sick were converted into healed ones. The demon-possessed became his witness and the one who a fisherman became one who catches men.


Verse 13: The Calling of Matthew (Mark 2:14-17; Luke 5:27-32)

Other Gospel writers call him by Levi. He was called ‘Mathai’(Matthew) after he followed Lord. He was son of Alpheus (Mark 2:14) from Nazareth. He preached Gospel in Judea, Ethiopia, some parts of Persia, and the kingdom of the Parthians, Macedonia, and Syria.

Other Gospel writers call him by Levi. He was called ‘Mathai’ or Matthew ("the gift of Yahweh") after he followed Lord. He was son of Alpheus (Mark 2:14) from Nazareth. (Eusebius informs us that he was a Syrian). When called by Christ, he was sitting at his tax-collector's desk in Capernaum. He followed Him at once, and also gave a feast for Jesus and the other disciples. After the resurrection of Christ, while Matthew was still in Judea for 15 years (St. Iranaeus, St. Clement of Alexandria), he wrote Gospel in his native language Aramaic (Eusebius). Then he preached in Ethiopia, some parts of Persia, and the kingdom of the Parthians, Macedonia, and Syria.

He was persecuted in Ethiopia but he brought back to life the king's daughter and so he converted the king and his wife together with the whole country to the faith of Christ. When the king died, his successor Hirtacus wished to marry Iphigenia, the daughter of the former king, but she had vowed her virginity to God, and she persevered in her holy determination. Since the vow had been taken through Matthew's influence, Hirtacus had Matthew killed at the altar while celebrating Mass. St. Clement of Alexandria mentions that he preached for 23 years in Ethiopia. Mor Michael Rabo and Mor Barsleebi has recorded that his holy relics are buried either in Antioch or in Jabala