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Son of Alphaeus, he lived at
Capenaum on Lake Genesareth. He was a Roman tax collector, a position
equated with collaboration with the enemy by those from whom he collected
taxes. Jesus' contemporaries were surprised to see the Christ with a
traitor, but Jesus explained that he had come "not to call the just, but
sinners."
Matthew's Gospel is given pride of place in the canon of the New
Testament, and was written to convince Jewish readers that their
anticipated Messiah had come in the person of Jesus. He preached among the
Jews for 15 years; his audiences may have included the Jewish enclave in
Ethiopia, and places in the East.
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