Jesus Came to Call Sinners

A classic story of Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees is in the calling of Matthew, the tax collector, as one of His disciples. In Matthew 9:9-13, the story is brief, going from the calling of Matthew, to Jesus and His disciples then dining with the tax collectors and sinners, which the Pharisees were offended by and questioned His disciples. 

These types of interactions are common throughout the Gospel narratives, where Jesus says or does something, and the various religious leaders in the vicinity are offended and question Jesus or His disciples, trying to catch Jesus in some sort of theologically hypocritical bind. It’s fascinating and useful to study these stories and interactions, especially from a religious and historical perspective, because you can get a real sense of Jesus’ heart and intention even better when you have a clearer view of the meanings of what is happening in the narrative. 

This one for instance, has many layers to be explored, but there’s a couple I want to point out. Let’s pick it up where the Pharisees are questioning the disciples “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matt. 9:11–13)

What Jesus was saying in that moment was He came to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), and more specifically people who had come to the realization that they were sinners, not trying to put on a mask or a show of their righteousness. We know that He wasn’t saying that the Pharisees were already righteous, but pointing out their own high and mighty attitudes, because the reality was that they were not righteous. As Paul reminds us in Romans 3:10, referencing Old Testament passages, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” 

Though that Romans passage points out that all of us fall short, that is good news, because Jesus came to save those who fall short. Just like a doctor dealing with a patient coming to him because he knows he is sick and cannot fix it himself, Jesus has what we need and He knows we can be healed. By contrast, the Pharisees are not truly righteous on their own, but they are blinded by their efforts to follow rules so they can’t see and appreciate their own need, like a person living with a cancerous infection, not seeking help because they are unaware of what is going on inside until it may be too late. 

The other truth that Jesus points to in this passage “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,” is a quote from the Old Testament, specifically Hosea 6:6, though it’s an often repeated idea throughout Scripture, such as Micah 6:6-8. What Jesus was pointing to was what we understand as the Greatest Commandment, loving God and loving people being the most important of all religious imperatives, what everything else is summed up in (Mark 12:28-34). 

God’s desire is mercy, or self-deferential love, not sacrifice, or following all the right outward rules.

That was a radical concept to the religious leaders of the day, and it’s no different today, it’s just in a new wrapper. It’s the idea that you can do good enough, try hard enough, be a good enough citizen, raise the right type of family, or whatever other self-righteousness you’re prone to believe. And this lie is something we all believe, whether or not we are deceived into thinking we’re the ones that have it all together, or thinking the opposite of ourselves, believing we have to attain some level of perfection and feeling disparage under the weight knowing we can’t measure up. That’s why Jesus pointed it out to them all, the Pharisees and the sinners, that what God’s desire is mercy, or self-deferential love, not sacrifice, or following all the right outward rules. Or as Micah 6:8 puts it: 

      “He has told you, O man, what is good; 
        and what does the LORD require of you 
      but to do justice, and to love kindness, 
        and to walk humbly with your God?” 

This is the Good News, that we have a God who came to call sinners; who desires not impossibly perfect adherence to rules, but heart change, and even empowers that change Himself through the Holy Spirit when we respond in faith to His call.