What’s Important to God?
“And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His disciples, why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, He said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Matthew 9:10-13
Jesus had just asked Levi to be one of His disciples. Levi was a publican, a Jew who was a tax collector for the Roman government which made him a target for hatred from the religious leaders. Think of him as an agent for the IRS. Levi, or Matthew, as Jesus called him, was glad to be able to be one of Jesus’ disciples and made a dinner for Him, to which other publicans and ordinary folks came to join them. The passage calls these guests publicans and sinners. Why mention them as two distinct groups since the publicans, like everyone else who has ever been born, were also sinners? According to the self-righteous Pharisees, who were about to witness this gathering, everyone besides themselves were sinners, and the publicans, the low-down, rotten tax collectors, were deemed by them to be more sinful that the average Jewish sinner. Apparently, the religious leaders had classifications for sin, something like on a scale of one to ten with ten being exceptionally good, like themselves, and one being, well, tax collectors. I would imagine that Jesus’ disciples would rank a two, and, to these leaders, Jesus likely didn’t even get a zero. As far as ranking sins, we do the same thing, but sin is sin to God, and none is acceptable to Him.
Somehow they heard about this gathering of folks with whom they normally would not associate, but, because of their fear of losing their power over the people to this Man from Galilee, they showed up at Matthew’s house. Fear can make folks do what they normally would not do. They certainly had to keep on top of what was going on concerning this One who was upsetting their apple cart. They were not only control freaks, but very envious of the attention that Jesus was receiving. They cornered some of Jesus’ disciples to ask why He was associating with such rift-raft. Of course, Jesus heard them, for He hears everything, and gave them an answer that far surpassed anything the disciples could have answered. He said, paraphrasing, “People who are well do not need to go to the doctor, but those who are sick do. You need to learn what it means when God says that He will have mercy, and not sacrifice, because I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Jesus’ answer must have left them speechless. Neither Matthew, Mark, or Luke record that they said anything in response to Jesus. They were being rebuked, but I doubt they realized it because they didn’t understand His statement. If they had been smart, they would have researched and prayed for God to reveal the meaning to them. Jesus was saying that a “whole” or “well” person, one who is totally righteous, did not need His help. While there has never been anyone on earth other than Jesus who could fit this bill, that is, be righteous on his or her own, the Pharisees believed that they fell into this category. They believed that their observance of the law and all the traditions that they had forced upon the Jews made them pleasing unto God, the Father. They did not see themselves as sinners in need of a Savior. Jesus let them know that since they felt they had no need of Him, He would turn His attention to those who did realize that they needed His help, the publicans and sinners who could not attain righteousness on their own. They saw Jesus as the Physician who had the remedy for their sin sickness.
What did Jesus mean when He said, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice”? Since the religious leaders were so well acquainted with the letter of the law Jesus wanted them to do some research regarding the spirit of the law. Jesus quoted from Hosea 6:6: “For I desired mercy and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offering”. The religious leaders who claimed to be very knowledgeable about what the law said were clueless as to the law’s meaning. Hosea had made the point in his writings that what God cared about was for a person to “do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God”. All the sacrifices in the world mean nothing when the heart is not right before God. Jesus wanted them to understand that to do good and have mercy upon others was what pleased God, not their works of self-righteousness or what they put into the temple treasury. Because the religious leaders and anyone who choose to remain in their self-righteous attitude cut themselves off from the only true righteousness that is found in Jesus Christ. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).