Matthew 9:9-13

Introduction

Imagine it’s Freezing Outside and it’s Coming a Huge Snow (Hard to Imagine, Isn’t it?)

Then All of a Sudden the Heat in Your House Stops Working

So You Call the Repairman and Say…

“Hey I Need to You to Come Over Here and Fix My Heating.”

And He Says…

“Oh is Your Heating Not Working? Sorry, I Can’t Help You There.”

“I Only Repair Things that Don’t Need to Be Repaired.”

Or Imagine Someone is Breaking into Your House

So You Call the Police and Ask Them to Come Arrest the Criminal

But the Policeman Tells You…

“Oh, Sorry, I Don’t Really Mess Around With Criminals.”

Or Imagine Your are Terribly Sick

So You Call the Doctor and Ask Them to Help You

But the Doctor Tells You…

I’m So Sorry You are Sick, But I Only Help People Who are Healthy

None of Those Scenarios Make Much Sense Do They?

Repairmen Repair Things that are Broken

Policemen Stop Criminals

And Doctors Help the Sick

It’s What They Do

Now Imagine One More With Me:

Imagine You’ve Lived a Life of Sinful Indulgence

And Your Lifestyle Finally Catches Up With You…

And You Realize Just How Broken, Guilty, and Spiritually Sick You are

So You Turn Your Life Over to Jesus and Ask Him to Save You…

To Rescue You From the Destruction You are Headed Toward

But the Answer You Receive is:

“Sorry, But I Only Save Those Who Whole, Innocent, and Spiritually Healthy.”

“I Only Rescue the Righteous.”

We Would Have No Hope Because He Wouldn’t Be a Savior at All

But Thank God, We Have a Savior

A Savior that Makes Whole the Broken

A Savior that Makes Innocent the Guilty

A Savior that Makes Healthy the Spiritually Sick

A Savior that Makes Righteous the Sinful

And that’s Exactly What We are Going to See in Our Text This Morning

Matthew 9:9-13

We are in This Gap Between the 1st and 2nd Major Teaching Discourses of Jesus

This is How Matthew Has Structured This Section of His Account

In This Gap, Matthew Shows Us 9 Miracles Split into 3 Groups of 3

And 2 Discipleship Passages in Between the 3 Groups of Miracles

We are On the 2nd Discipleship Passage

In the 1st Discipleship Passage, We Met 2 Men Who Claimed to Want to Follow Jesus

But Their Priorities Seemed to Be Out of Order

We Weren’t Told Whether They Decided to Follow Jesus or Not

But in this 2nd Discipleship Passage, We Know for Certain the Man Followed Jesus

And He Would Go On to Become One of Jesus’ Closest Companions

And His Name is Matthew (the Author of This Account)

Matthew 9:9 (NASB95)

As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

After Healing and Forgiving the Lame Man…

Mark Tells Us that Jesus Went Out By the Seashore

This is Where He Sees a Tax Collector Named Matthew

Matthew Would Have Been Hated By His Jewish Brethren…

Because They Viewed Tax Collectors as Traitors…

Since They Were Taking Money From Their Own People to Give to the Romans

And On Top of That, Some Tax Collectors Would Take More to Line Their Own Pockets

Matthew Would Have Been Considered a Traitor and an Outcast in Jewish Society…

But Jesus Offers Him a Place in His Kingdom

For a Jewish Rabbi to Invite a Tax Collector to Join Him Would Be Violating a Number of Cultural Taboos

Jewish Religious Leaders Had No Dealings at All With Tax Collectors

But Jesus Did

And All Matthew Has to Do is Accept the Offer

The Scribe Had to Be Willing to Leave Behind His Luxuries

And the Other Man Had to Be Willing to Leave Behind His Responsibilities

It’s Likely that Neither of Them Made the Necessary Sacrifice

Matthew Had a Wonderful Job that Paid Very Well

He Also Had Responsibilities to Rome and to Herod

And He Immediately Made the Sacrifice

Luke Tells Us that Matthew “Left Everything Behind”

Matthew Made a Sacrifice that Most Would Never Make

Matthew 9:10 (NASB95)

Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.

Luke Tells Us that Matthew Gave a Big Reception at His House

Jesus and His Disciples as Well as a Large Crowd of Tax Collectors and Sinners Were Invited

This Might Have Been to Celebrate Matthew’s Acceptance as a Disciple

He Invited Several of His Friends and Colleagues

“Sinners” Could Refer to:

Average Jewish People Who Didn’t Follow the Strict Traditions of the Pharisees

On Things Such as Ritual Purity, Food Laws, and Sabbath Observance

Or People With Heinous Reputations as Some of the Most Sinful in Society

Gentiles, Prostitutes, Adulterers, Drunkards, etc.

The Specifics Aren’t the Point

The Point is:

Jesus Was Invited to a Banquet By a Tax Collector…

And Would be Accompanied By What the Religious Jews Called “Sinners”

And He Accepted the Invite!

That Might Not Blow Your Mind, But it Blew the Minds of the Jewish People

Not Only Would This Have Been Considered an Incredibly Unclean Environment…

But to Eat Together was to Fellowship Together

By Eating With Tax Collectors and Sinners…

Jesus was Associating Himself With Tax Collectors and Sinners

In the Eyes of a Religious Jew…

Jesus is Doing Something Questionable at Best

And Reputation Ruining and Sinful at Worst

Righteous Men Don’t Go to Dinner Parties With Sinners

But Jesus Wasn’t Concerned About Opinions

Jesus Didn’t Mind Being Considered a Friend of Tax Collectors and Sinners

Jesus was Totally at Home With the Broken, Guilty, and Spiritually Sick of Society

Jesus Loved Spending Time With the Outcasts

And the Outcasts Loved Spending Time With Him

Matthew 9:11 (NASB95)

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”

The Pharisees Were Aware of Jesus and His Disciples Associating With the Riff Raff

They Were Not at the Banquet

They Would Not Be Caught Dead Sharing a Meal With Tax Collectors and Sinners

So Their Question to the Disciples Probably Happened at a Later Time

But This Likely Wasn’t a Sincere Question

They Were Likely Calling His Integrity and Righteousness into Question

“It’s One Thing to Teach Tax Collectors and Sinners…”

“But to Associate With Them?!”

“To Spend Time With and Be All Buddy-Buddy With Them?!”

“What Kind of Teacher are You Following?!”

Matthew 9:12 (NASB95)

But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

Jesus Hears What the Pharisees are Saying to His Disciples

And He Fires Right Back at Them

He Brings Up an Illustration that We Began This Lesson With

Doctors Help the Sick, Not the Healthy

Jesus, Refers to Himself as a Doctor

Not Only Has He Physically Healed So Many

But He Just Left the House Where He Forgave the Sins of the Paralyzed Man

Physical Healing is Not in the Context Here

Jesus is Calling Himself the Healer of the Spirit

And as the Doctor for the Spirit, He Came to Heal Those Who are Spiritually Sick

Jesus is Obviously Referring to the Tax Collectors and Sinners as the Spiritually Sick

But Who Would Be the Spiritually Healthy in This Metaphor?

Who are the Ones Who are Spiritually Healthy Without the Spiritual Doctor’s Help?

Absolutely No One

But There Were Definitely People Who Believed Themselves to Be Spiritually Healthy:

The Jewish Religious Elites Like the Pharisees

The Major Difference Between the Pharisees and Sinners was Not:

That One Side Was Spiritually Healthy and the Other Spiritually Sick

It was that One Side Acknowledged Their Spiritual Sickness…

And Sought the Healing that Could Only Come From the Doctor

And the Other Side Refused to Acknowledge that They Were Just as Sick as the Rest

So They Rejected the Doctor When He Came to Heal the Sick

Matthew 9:13 (NASB95)

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus Tells Them to “Go and Learn”

This was a Standard Command From Rabbis to Their Disciples…

To Go to a Specific Passage and Learn What it is All About

This was a Double Rebuke From Jesus to the Pharisees

1st, He Treats Them as Learners Rather Than Teachers

2nd, He Treats Them as Beginners Who Haven’t Yet Learned the Scriptures Correctly

He Directs Them to Hosea 6:6

Hosea 6:6 (NASB95)

For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

The Prophet Hosea was Commanded By God to Be a Living Illustration

He was Told to Marry an Unfaithful, Adulterous Prostitute…

As an Illustration of How Israel Had Been Unfaithful and Adulterous to God

But They Believed as Long as They Got the Rituals Right…

God Would Forgive Them

But What God Really Wanted From Israel was:

chesed = Love, Mercy, and Faithful Loyalty

God Would Rather His People Live Lives Dedicated to Love, Mercy, and Faithful Loyalty…

Than to Live Unfaithfully But Perform All the Right Rituals

Those Who Seek Mercy From God Through Their Sacrifices Must:

Love God and Others

Show Mercy to Others

Be Faithful and Loyal to Their Covenant With God

Matthew 9:13 (NASB95)

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew Chooses the Greek Word eleos = Mercy

All 3 Times Matthew Uses This Word in His Account…

It is Used to Refer to the Weightier Matters of the Law

To God, Showing Love, Kindness, and Mercy was/is More Important than Ritual Practices

Jesus Will Rebuke the Pharisees Later for This Very Thing

Matthew 23:23 (NASB95)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

Jesus Doesn’t Teach Against OT Ritualistic Practices

They Should Practice Mercy AND the Sacrifices/Rituals

Matthew 9:13 (NASB95)

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The Phrase, “I Desire Mercy and Not Sacrifice”…

Was an Idiom that Meant “More Than”

The Point was Exactly What the Pharisees Needed to Hear

When They Chose to Show No Mercy to the Sinners, Outcasts, and the Poor…

They Were Neglecting the Most Important Aspects of the Law

I Think the NLT Captures the Point Jesus was Making at the End of This Verse

Matthew 9:13 (NLT)

“For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

That was the Reason Jesus Came From Heaven to Earth

Not to Congratulate the Pharisees…

And Others Who Believed They Were Already Righteous

But to Repair Those Who Recognize That They are Broken

To Make Innocent Those Who Know They are Guilty

To Heal Those Who Know They are Sick and Dying

In Luke’s Account, Jesus Says He Came to Call Sinners to Repentance

Jesus Didn’t Associate With Sinners in Order to Approve of Their Sins…

Or to Join Them in Their Bad Behavior

Jesus Didn’t Allow the Sinners to Influence Him

He Influenced Them

He Called Them Out of Their Sin and to a Higher, Nobler Calling

Application

There are So Many Applications We Could Take From This Text

But Let’s Just Focus On the Main Point

Jesus Associated With Sinners

Jesus’ Mission was Handed Off to His Disciples at His Ascension

His Mission Consisted of Making More Disciples

And He Did That By Associating With/Spending Time With Outcasts and Sinners

How are We Doing in That Department, Christians?

I Hope We Aren’t More Like the Pharisees Than Our King

I Hope We Aren’t So Concerned With Our Reputation that We Don’t Associate With the Lost

I Hope We Aren’t So Concerned With the Rituals that We Neglect the Sinners Around Us

I Hope Our Desire is to Show Mercy, Love, and Kindness to the Outcasts and Lost Around Us

Our Mission is to Associate With the:

Homeless

Prostitutes

Addicts

Drunkards

Homosexuals

Adulterers

Diseased

Divorcees

Single Parents

Poor

Foreigners

Our Mission is to Associate With, to Love, and to Show Compassion to Them

Because if We Aren’t, We Aren’t Following Our Lord at All

Not Only Did Jesus Associate With the Spiritually Sick…

He Healed Them and Gave Them a New Purpose in Life

Just Look at Matthew

He Went From Collecting Taxes for the Romans…

To Spreading the Good News of the Messiah to the World

Who Knows How Many Outcasts, Broken, Guilty, and Sick People Have Become Christians Through His Gospel Account

Jesus Changed the World in Many Ways

And One Way was By Associating With a Broken, Guilty, Sin-Sick Outcast Named Matthew

His Mission to Change the World is Now Ours

What Will We Do With That Mission?