MATTHEW THE PUBLICAN

Chesterton Radio · Sep 21, 2026 · 51m

He was sitting at the customs post.

To respectable society, Matthew was already a known quantity: a publican, a tax collector, a collaborator, a sinner. The sort of man religious people knew enough to avoid.

Then Jesus stopped.

“Follow me.”

And Matthew got up.

For the Feast of St. Matthew, Chesterton Radio goes beyond the familiar saint’s biography to ask a more provocative question: Why did Jesus choose Matthew the publican?

Using two classic radio portrayals—Matthew the Publican from The Greatest Story Ever Told and St. Matthew the Apostle from The Ave Maria Hour—we return to first-century…