9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew [1] sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” [2] came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. [3]13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

A TAX COLLECTOR NAMED MATTHEW

The unpopular Roman government demanded crippling taxes from Israel. Taxes were leased to Jews who paid for the right to collect them, collected more than was necessary, and kept the difference. This system was open to exploitation and the tax collectors were objects of contempt and hatred. They were regarded as dishonest parasites, unscrupulous thieves and traitorous collaborators. Most of them were cruel and corrupt like Zacchaeus of Jericho who cheated poor people (Luke 19:1-10). Tax collectors were regarded as ceremonially unclean and social misfits because of their contact with Gentiles. Most Jews avoided them.

Matthew describes his own conversion. Christ’s call on a tax collector’s life was a shock to the Jews and illustrated the grace of God. Jesus discerned Matthew’s deep need for love and acceptance that was hidden by his love of money. His call replaced any sense of unworthiness Matthew may have experienced and transformed his life: “He left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:28). The future evangelist left a lucrative business immediately to find the joy of a new beginning. It was a complete break with the past. Jesus first calls us to loyalty to himself: “Follow me.” He saw Matthew’s potential as a disciple, especially his ability to keep records. As we read his gospel, we enjoy the benefits of that ability.

JESUS THE FRIEND OF SINNERS (Matthew 11:19)

Luke tells us that Matthew held a “great banquet” (5:29). Jesus, “the friend of sinners”, not only called a social outcast to be his follower but he feasted with disreputable people like Matthew. Jesus was not contaminated by their sins. These “sinners” came to Jesus because he was non-judgmental and approachable, and Matthew wanted his old friends to meet his new friend Jesus. Having found mercy, he wanted others to find it. This is genuine discipleship. Even the disciples were surprised to find themselves next to guests that they normally would ignore!

The Pharisees’ question was more of an accusation than an inquiry: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” It implied Christ was unrighteous. The religious leaders harassed Jesus and asked “Why? Why? Why?” (Mark 2:16, 18, 24). Here they were horrified at Jesus’ mixing with the dregs of society. To an orthodox Jew these “sinners” were non-practising Jews, who did not keep the Law, or they had a dishonourable job like tax collecting and were therefore “outsiders”. The Pharisees considered these “scum” (NLT) or “outcasts” (GNB) to be unclean because they broke their religious rules called the “tradition of the elders” (Matthew 15:2). Yet it is to this type of person that Jesus brings salvation. To Jesus, Matthew’s dinner party was a celebration of salvation. He had come to save despite religious conventions.

The identification of Jesus with sinners was basic to his ministry. This was apparent every time he sat down for a meal with obvious sinners. In the East, then as now, the sharing of a meal has the idea of trust, mutual acceptance, peace and brotherhood. Matthew was a convert with a wide circle of outcast friends that Jesus was pleased to meet and share the gospel. This meal expressed Jesus mission and is an example of effective evangelism. Jesus did not avoid sinners; he deliberately looked for them: “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10). Perhaps the strange mixture of guests at Matthew’s feast symbolised the Messiah’s feast (cf. Matthew 8:11). It was his priority to give grace to the unworthy, as the parables of Luke chapter 15 illustrate.

A PHYSICIAN TO SOULS

Jesus’ reply to his critics was devastating and revealed an irreconcilable difference between him and them. He referred to himself as a doctor who had come to heal “sinners” i.e. the spiritually sick: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick”. By this he meant the healthy are the righteous and the sick are sinners. He reminded his critics that a true doctor helps those who need him the most, however outcast they may be. Jesus explained that he came not to meet the needs of the spiritually arrogant and the religious self-righteous, but those who knew their spiritual need: “For I have not come to call [invite to salvation] the righteous, but sinners.” He was ironically referring to the Pharisees who thought they were righteous or healthy. The Pharisees did not think they were sinnersi.e. “sick” who needed a “doctor” i. e. Jesus. However, the “healthy” are sick people whom God has healed by forgiveness.

The Pharisees were not righteous. On occasions Jesus ate with them and reproved them (Luke 7:36; 11:37; 14:1). He meant that the self-complacent who consider themselves to be spiritually “healthy” will have no part in the salvation he offers to those who are aware of their need of “repentance” (Luke 5:32). The teachers of the law pretended to be healthy or “righteous”. The word “righteous” is ironic as here it means the self-righteous. It is difficult for the self-righteous to repent. Those who were reckoned righteous according to Jewish legal standards are shown up as sinful in view of their self-righteousness and their rejection of Jesus. Yet those who know themselves to be sinners find Christ heals them. Jesus had previously called himself a doctor: “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: Physician, heal yourself!” (Luke 4:23).

MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE

Mercy motivated Christ to help all kinds of people. In reply to the legalistic criticism of the Pharisees Jesus quoted a favourite verse of his, which he quoted again later (Matthew 12:7). Hosea 6:6 described the heart of Christ’s mission: “Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others” (CEV). The word “mercy” (Greek “eleos”) has the idea of kindness and compassion shown by one person to another, as well as the love and goodness in Christ that God has shown to people. In Hosea “mercy” (Hebrew “chesed”) is a complex word that is translated “steadfast love” (RSV), “loyalty” (NASB), “constant love” (GNB) and “loving-kindness” (KJV). Here it refers to one’s loyalty to God that comes from an undivided devotion rather than mere outward observance. God prefers an act of mercy to any act of religious worship (cf. 1 Samuel 15:22; Proverbs 21:3; Micah 6:6-8).

Hosea 6:6 summed up Christ’s attitude to the elaborate ritual of the Pharisees that prevented their kindness towards others. With biting sarcasm Jesus said, “Go and learn what this means” because these religious leaders, who prided themselves in their knowledge, did not understand the text. Their hearts were cold, hard, and without kindness to the needy. Jesus taught that human need comes before ritual and that zealous observance of religious duties, without compassion, is worthless to God. Jesus rejected the closed circle of the self-righteous with their artificial holiness and dead rituals. His mission was based on mercy, not merit.

THE PHARISEES

“The tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you”, Christ later told the chief priests and Pharisees. (Matthew 21:31, 45).

FOR REFLECTION

PRAYER

Lord, we pray that our churches will offer the mercy and forgiveness of Christ to the marginalised in our society and avoid the dangers of hypocrisy and superiority.

Jim Peacock MA (Honours), Diploma of Education.

1 A comparison with Matthew 9:9 and Luke 5:27 makes it clear that Matthew and Levi are the same person.
2 The NIV puts the word “sinners” in quotation marks. This general term described disreputable people including criminals, those who broke the Law of Moses, and those in despised jobs like tax collectors. The NEB translates the Greek word “harartolos” as “bad characters”, “bad company” and “sinners” in the same context.
3 This metaphor, or parabolic saying, may have been a proverb in Jesus’ time.