“The Calling of St. Matthew” by Caravaggio is a moving work of art that every Catholic should recognize. Its high contrast and dark palette illustrate the drama of the moment when Christ. calls St. Matthew to leave his sinful life as a tax collector and become a follower of Jesus. This episode is depicted in three of the Gospels (Matthew 9:9, Luke 5:27-28, Mark 2:14), each with similar brevity and abruptness. The story is not elaborately described, but rather, its simplicity is on full display in all three Gospel accounts. Put simply, Jesus called and Matthew followed.
“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.” (Matthew 9:9, RSVCE)
As we read this Gospel account we can place ourselves into the drama of the painting by Caravaggio. The dark shadows let the background fade and the figures take center stage. The only light source comes from the right, above Jesus’ head. Many speculate that there is deliberate ambiguity as to which figure is St. Matthew. The most obvious interpretation is that Matthew is the bearded man who returns the gaze of Jesus with a look of disbelief after being startled away from his task of counting coins. Alternatively, some have speculated that Matthew is the figure at the end of the table with his head still bowed down— the bearded man not pointing at himself, but rather, pointing at this unsuspecting figure at the end of the table asking, “Who? Him?” The openness for interpretation allows the viewer to reflect on the painting from different angles and choose their own understanding of the scene.
One detail of the painting that is particularly deep and worthy of contemplation is the hand of Jesus. Those familiar with other works of sacred art may notice that the hand bears a striking, near identical, resemblance to “The Creation of Adam” in Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel where the hand of God and the hand of Adam reach out towards each other and nearly touch. Notably, the hand of Jesus most closely resembles the hand of Adam, illustrating his role in salvation history as the New Adam and emphasizing his full humanity. In the painting from the Sistine Chapel, the hand of Adam comes from the left of the painting and the hand of God comes from the right-hand side. In “The Call of St. Matthew” Jesus’ hand is a mirror image of the hand of Adam. It depicts the hand of man but comes from the right-hand side of the painting, the direction of the hand of God, thereby emphasizing Christ’s Divinity as well.
Both the rich symbolism of Jesus’ hand and the ambiguousness of the figure of Matthew invite the viewer to reflect on the perennial call that Jesus extends to all of us. The call to follow Jesus takes many different forms in our lives, but we can always ask the intercession of St. Matthew to help us model his decisiveness and simplicity in responding to the call.
