9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:9-13)
This passage talks about the Lord Jesus calling Matthew, who was a tax collector. At that time, the tax collectors were Jews who collected taxes for the Roman government. The Jews called them traitors. They often collected more taxes and put them into their own pockets, so the Jews didn’t like them. Matthew prepared a banquet for the Lord Jesus at his house, and also invited other tax collectors and sinners. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked the disciples of the Lord Jesus, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When the Lord Jesus heard this, he said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” The Lord Jesus is a spiritual doctor. Those who are sick and have sins come to Him and confess their sins and repent, and He will heal them, show mercy to them, and forgive them. He loves mercy, not sacrifice. He has mercy on sinners. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, He also wants us to have mercy on sinners. If we have mercy on others, God will have mercy on us.
May God bless you and your family! 🙏😊
