As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. 10 While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. 11 The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. 13 Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
Jesus sees Matthew sitting at a customs post and simply says, ‘Follow me’ (v. 9). Tax collectors were widely despised. They collected tolls and taxes for rulers associated with Roman power. In practice, a collector could be responsible for turning over a required amount and then charge people more than that amount, keeping the excess for himself. This made the system open to abuse and gave tax collectors a reputation for dishonesty and exploitation; Zacchaeus’ promise to repay anyone he had extorted shows how closely tax collecting could be associated with such abuse (Luke 19:1–8). Yet Jesus does not pass Matthew by because of his occupation or reputation. He calls him to become a disciple. Matthew’s response is immediate: ‘he got up and followed him.’ The same Jesus who has just shown His authority to forgive sins (Matthew 9:1–8) now demonstrates what that forgiveness means in the life of a sinner despised by his own people. Even such a person can be called away from his former life and into a new life of discipleship.
The scene then moves to a meal where ‘many tax collectors and sinners’ are eating with Jesus and His disciples (v. 10). Hospitality and shared meals were important features of biblical life. To welcome someone to one’s table was more than simply eating in the same place; it expressed fellowship, acceptance, and association. Scripture repeatedly presents meals as occasions of welcome and communion, as when Abraham receives his visitors with generous hospitality (Genesis 18:1–8). Jesus’ willingness to share table fellowship with tax collectors and sinners therefore carried real significance. The Pharisees ask why He would willingly associate so closely with people whom they regarded as sinners.
Jesus answers with the image of a physician: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do” (v. 12). His words explain why He draws near to sinners. A physician cannot heal the sick by remaining distant from them. In the same way, Jesus does not approach sinners because sin does not matter; He approaches them precisely because sin wounds them and they need healing. His mercy seeks to reconcile them with God. This same mission appears elsewhere when Jesus says that ‘the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost’ (Luke 19:10).
Jesus then tells the Pharisees, ‘Go and learn the meaning of the words, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”’ (v. 13), quoting Hosea 6:6. Through the prophet Hosea, God had condemned religious observance that was not accompanied by faithful love of God and neighbor. Similar warnings appear elsewhere in the prophets: God rejects worship that is separated from justice and righteousness (Isaiah 1:11–17; Amos 5:21–24). Sacrifice was not wrong; it was meant to express a life of covenant faithfulness.
Jesus applies Hosea’s words directly to the situation before Him. The Pharisees are concerned about His association with sinners, but Jesus reveals that God’s mercy reaches precisely toward those who have gone astray. His mercy does not excuse sin or leave a person unchanged. It calls the sinner into a new relationship with God. Matthew is the immediate example of this mercy at work: Jesus meets him at the customs post, calls him to follow, and Matthew responds by leaving his former life behind. The tax collector despised by his own people will become one of the Twelve Apostles (Matthew 10:2–4) and a witness to Jesus Christ. Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly calls people who seem unlikely or unworthy and gives them a new role in His saving plan: David is chosen from among his older brothers (1 Samuel 16:6–13), and Paul, once a persecutor of the Church, is called to become an apostle (Acts 9:1–19; 1 Corinthians 15:9–10).
When Jesus says, ‘I did not come to call the righteous but sinners’ (v. 13), He does not mean that some people have no need of God’s mercy. Scripture teaches that ‘all have sinned’ (Romans 3:23), and warns that ‘if we say, “We are without sin,” we deceive ourselves’ (1 John 1:8). The danger is believing that we are already spiritually well and therefore have no need of the divine Physician.
Lord Jesus, help us recognize our need for Your mercy. Give us the grace to hear Your call, leave behind whatever keeps us from You, and follow You faithfully. Teach us to show to others the mercy that You have shown to us. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011. Notes on Matthew 9:9–13.
- Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010. 22.
- Casciaro, Jose Maria, gen. ed. The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008. 76.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990. 649–650, para. 61.
- Mitch, Curtis, and Edward Sri. The Gospel of Matthew. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010. 134.
- Aguilar Chiu, Jose Enrique, et al., eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018. 926–927.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid, OP, and Donald Senior, CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. 3rd fully rev. ed. London: T&T Clark, 2022. 1189–1190.
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