Dear All,
 Yours in His Service Rev. S. John Presbyter In-Charge |
On behalf of our St. Matthew’s Tamil Church, I greet you in the precious name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Let us together try to learn from the person and work of St. Matthew’s of the Bible.
Matthew appears in the list of 12 apostles of Jesus. He was a tax collector by profession. His father’s name is Alphaeus. The name “Matthew” means “Gift of the Lord.” Matthew also had another name “Levi.” He wrote the Gospel around AD 50. Matthew quotes more than 60 times the Old Testament prophetic passages emphasizing how Christ is the fulfillment of all those promises.
Matthew was a native of Cana. Matthew wrote the Gospel especially for the Jews, he portrays Jesus as the “Messiah” for whom the Jews were waiting for a long time. And he give the genealogy of Jesus to tell the Jews that he is the only hope of their forefathers.
While he was a sinner, the call of God came to him. He then left everything and followed Jesus. He was the richest among the disciples of Christ, but he left everything when Christ called him to follow him. Let us thank God for life and work of St. Matthew and follow Jesus like him!
Matthew preached the Gospel for many years after the ascension of Jesus, traveling throughout the Holy Land and finally meeting a martyr’s death at the hands of Pagans in the land of Ethopia. Even today the verses of his book is a great challenge placed before us; Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples; baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”
Let us surrender ourselves to God to fulfil his great command. May God bless you!
