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Tag: Matthew 9:13

Not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in Matthew, What’s new?.

Why did Jesus say, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13)?

When the Pharisees saw Jesus eating and socializing easily with tax collectors and sinners in Matthew’s home, they were scandalized. They questioned why Jesus would hang out with the most despised “lowlifes” of society. According to their self-righteous standards, no truly godly teacher would fellowship so intimately with the world’s “scumbags.” Unashamedly, Jesus responded to their hypocrisy by saying, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Matthew 9:12–13, NKJV).

Jesus presents Himself as a doctor and healer of those who are spiritually sick (the unrighteous sinners of the world). God loves sinners (Romans 5:8) and sent His Son into this world to save them (1 Timothy 1:15). Repentance is the treatment plan, and forgiveness is the cure Jesus offers. “Those who are well” or “the healthy” (NIV) don’t need a doctor. Jesus’ critics thought they were healthy and saw no need for a doctor, but, in reality, they were deceived. Jesus is not implying that the Pharisees were righteous. Removing all sarcasm and irony from Christ’s statement, the verse might read, “I haven’t come to call on those who think they’re righteous, but to treat those who know they’re sinners.”

Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6—“I desire mercy and not sacrifice”—as an indictment against the Pharisees. They do not understand the verse’s true meaning and therefore do not perceive their own spiritually reprobate condition. The Pharisees observe the letter of the law perfectly. They are flawless in their execution of religious rituals and sacrifices. But, if they were truly righteous, they would appreciate the spirit of the law by demonstrating God’s kindness, compassion, and mercy toward the outcasts of society.

When doctors call on sick people, they must get up close and personal with them to have any hope of helping and healing them. So, too, Jesus calls sinners to Himself. His love for the lost compels Him to come down to where they are and get mud on His feet with them (Hebrews 2:9; Philippians 2:7; 1 John 3:16). “The Pharisees prove their religion by keeping clean. Jesus proves his love by getting dirty” (Knowles, A., The Bible Guide, Augsburg, 2001, p. 419).

Jesus came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). He did not leave heaven to pat self-satisfied religious people on the back and ignore everyone else who fails to measure up to the Pharisees’ meticulous standards. Jesus came to call “all who are far off” (Acts 2:39) and bring them near by His blood shed on the cross (Ephesians 2:13).

Tax collectors and sinners know they are spiritually sick. They long for God’s healing forgiveness. They are “the poor in spirit,” “the meek,” and “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:3, 5–6). On the other hand, the Pharisees are blind to their own neediness. They think they are healthy but are instead “blind fools” (Matthew 23:16–17, 23–24; see also Luke 6:41).

Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” The “righteous” are respectable people in the eyes of the world and those who are righteous in their own eyes. “Sinners” are the outcasts of the world. If we are to follow in Christ’s footsteps and not be like the Pharisees, we will get our hands dirty, too. We will reach out to the rejected, the homeless, addicts, prostitutes, criminals, afflicted, diseased, abused, and marginalized in our society. We’ll love the unlovable, dine with the undesirable, and befriend the forsaken of the world. Like Jesus, we’ll have compassion for the single parent, the widow, the divorcees, and the elderly (Matthew 9:36)—compassion that moves us to act on their behalf (Matthew 15:32; Luke 7:11–17). Like the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37), we’ll show mercy with deeds of kindness by walking “in the way of love, just as Christ loved us” (Ephesians 5:2).

I desire mercy and not sacrifice

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in Hosea, Matthew, What’s new?.

What is the meaning of “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13)?

When Jesus called Matthew to become a disciple (Matthew 9:9–13), the Pharisees were scandalized. Matthew, an unscrupulous tax collector, had been part of the corrupt Roman system that cheated and oppressed its citizens. The Jews passionately hated tax collectors, classifying them among the worst of sinners. When the Pharisees saw Jesus having dinner with a band of these notorious crooks at Matthew’s house, they asked, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matthew 9:11, ESV). Jesus responded unapologetically: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12–13, ESV).

Jesus was quoting from Hosea 6:6, in which God rebuked Israel for focusing on the letter of the law while ignoring its spirit. God desires faithfulness, love, and mercy from His people more than their procedural observance of the law. The word sacrifice in Matthew 9:13 and Hosea 6:6 represents all the obligations and rituals that religious people perform but are void of meaning. Jesus charged the Pharisees with being just like the ancient Israelites. They were faultless in their adherence to religious tradition and ritual sacrifice but had no compassion for needy sinners.

Later, in Matthew 12:1–8, Jesus cites Hosea 6:6 again to the Pharisees. They had scolded Jesus because His hungry disciples plucked some heads of grain and ate them as they passed through the fields. The disciples had done nothing wrong (see Deuteronomy 23:25), but because they had picked grain on the Sabbath, the Pharisees accused them of breaking the law of the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8; Jeremiah 17:22). These religious hypocrites had turned the Scriptures into an oppressive list of rules and regulations instead of understanding what the law meant and why it had been given. Jesus reminds them of Hosea in Matthew 12:7: “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” Jesus, the Master Teacher, had given the Pharisees “homework” in Matthew 9; they had not completed the assignment and so had not learned their lesson in Matthew 12.

God intended for the Sabbath to be a day for worship and rest, not a legalistic burden. The Old Testament laws, including the Sabbath laws, were all given to lead Israel into a loving, devoted relationship with God. The disciples had not broken God’s law. Instead, they had transgressed the hypocritical regulations laid down by the Pharisees. Jesus is the authority and can override any human tradition: “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8).

God’s true righteousness flows from our fellowship with Him in Jesus Christ and involves demonstrating mercy to outcasts and sinners. The Lord won’t tolerate cold-heartedness from His people. James informs, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27, NLT).

Some Christians tend to be judgmental toward sinners and take pride in their own perceived goodness instead of remembering and replicating the mercy Christ offers. But Jesus taught us to forgive as we have been forgiven and show the same kind of mercy that was shown to us by God (Matthew 6:12; 18:33). Jesus spent time in the company of sinners and welcomed those who repented and followed Him, and so must we.

The self-righteousness of the Pharisees prevented them from seeing their spiritually sickened condition and their need for God and His mercy. Without an intimate relationship with the Lord, all the sacrifices in this world won’t change our hearts so that we are moved with compassion for the lost, broken, and dying people around us. But if we have been transformed through God’s forgiveness and healing and filled with His love and mercy for people in need, our righteous deeds—our sacrifices—are no longer empty gestures but authentic spiritual offerings (Matthew 6:1–18). Our lives become “a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him” (Romans 12:1, NLT).

When God says, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” He is calling us to an inner circumcision of the heart that “is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit” (Romans 2:29, NLT). If God does not have our hearts, He does not have us at all.