Named Matthew - Generally supposed to be the same who wrote this history of our blessed Lord. Mathai signifies a gift in Syriac; probably so named by his parents as implying a gift from God.

The receipt of custom - The custom-house, τελωνιον - the place where the taxes levied by the Romans of the Jews, were collected.

Follow me - That is, become my disciple.

And he arose, and followed him - How blessed it is to be obedient to the first call of Christ - how much happiness and glory are lost by delays, though conversion at last may have taken place!

named.

Matthew 21:31,32 Whether of them two did the will of his father? They say to him, The first. Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you...

Mark 2:14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said to him, Follow me...

*etc:

Luke 5:27,28 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said to him, Follow me...

Levi.

Luke 15:1,2 Then drew near to him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him...

Luke 19:2-10 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich...

Follow.

Matthew 4:18-22 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea...

1 Kings 19:19-21 So he departed there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth...

Galatians 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

Soul-Healing First: Body-Healing Second
'That ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then saith He to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.'--MATT. ix. 6. The great example of our Lord's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is followed, in this and the preceding chapter, by a similar collection of His works of healing. These are divided into three groups, each consisting of three members. This miracle is the last of the second triad, of which the other two members are the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Physician's Calling (Preached at Whitehall for St. George's Hospital. )
ST. MATTHEW ix. 35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. The Gospels speak of disease and death in a very simple and human tone. They regard them in theory, as all are forced to regard them in fact, as sore and sad evils. The Gospels never speak of disease or death as necessities; never as the will of God. It is Satan, not God, who binds the woman with …
Charles Kingsley—The Water of Life and Other Sermons

Of the Words Themselves in General.
We come now to the words themselves, wherein Christ asserts that he is, 1, "the way;" 2, "the truth;" 3, "the life;" and, 4, "that no man cometh to the Father but by him." In them we learn these two things in general. First, The misery of wretched man by nature. This cannot be in a few words expressed. These words will point out those particulars thereof, which we will but mention. 1. That he is born an enemy to, and living at a distance from God, by virtue of the curse of the broken covenant of …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life