Exposition of the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 9:9-13)

November 24, 2020

(Miracles of Jesus)

Questions to be answered in this study

1. What were the customs officials who collected taxes for the Roman government called?
2. How did people perceive publicans?
3. Matthew was also called Levi before he became Matthew. What does his name mean in both cases?
4. What was the difference it the way the Pharisees viewed sinners and the way Jesus saw them?
5. What was the Pharisee’s greatest misconception of the Messiah?
6. What is the definition of Self-righteousness?
7. What does it take to please God?
8. What was the animal sacrifice system a picture of during the Old Testament time of the law?
9. There are several ways you can obey the Lord and become a witness; can you name some and are you presently doing any of them?

Introduction

Today we continue our study of Matthew chapter 9. We begin with Matthew’s second anecdote to separate the three groups of miracles included in chapters 8 and 9. Last time we finished the second group with Jesus healing the man with palsy and forgiving him of his sin showing God’s power over the physical and power to forgive sin. Now we are ready to move into the third and final group of Jesus’ miracles.

Before we do, there are two scenes we need to consider. The first scene is between Jesus and Mathew:

Matthew 9:9, “And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

The Roman empire stretched from Great Britain to India in Jesus’ day. Rome had roads and bridges, military posts, ships, government buildings, and palaces, which were many infrastructures to be maintained. They levied heavy taxes on their subjects and all conquered territories, Judea being one of them. Rome placed a tax collection booth on that road passing by Capernaum since it was a significant trade route between Egypt and the eastern countries.

The customs officials who collected taxes for the Roman government were called publicans. These were not paid by Rome but were allowed to keep all they collected above the quota set by Rome. Tax collectors had a low reputation and were considered traitors, thieves, and cheats who oppressed their people. The Romans used citizens of their own particular country to collect taxes, probably because they knew the language. They were ostracized from their community and only could socialize with other publicans and prostitutes. Neither were they respected by the Romans. The Pharisees did not count the publicans worthy of repentance or forgiveness.

As Matthew watched, perhaps with envy, as Jesus approaches with the multitude following Him, he wishes that he could be somebody of importance. It was here at this place and at this time that Jesus called out Matthew, the publican, to be His disciple, saying, “follow me.” The gospels of Mark and Luke called Matthew Levi, meaning “Gift of Yahweh.” This name indicates he was from the tribe of Levi. In Matthew’s gospel, he calls himself Matthew. Matthew has the same meaning in Hebrew as does Levi, “gift of Yahweh.”

It was a custom to change names when a person was converted, so apparently, his name was Levi up until the time Jesus called him to be His disciple. When a person comes to Christ, they are a new person, so it would be entirely appropriate to call themselves by a new name, although that is not the custom in today’s Western civilization.

No doubt, Matthew had no idea that day, as he sat in the tax collector’s booth, that his life was going to change forever. It was on this day he met the Master. Jesus calls out to Matthew and says, “follow me;” this is the same kind of invitation Jesus is giving to all who will trust in Him and who will follow Him; it means leaving our present life behind and commencing a new life in Him. What a blessed moment that is for anyone.

Here was not only a Jew but the Messiah who was speaking to a publican and inviting him to be part of His inner circle and come follow Him and be His disciple. I’m sure Matthew could not believe his ears. After years of being an outcast in the eyes of his fellow Jews, he is now welcomed by the most prominent rabbi Jew of the day to come with Him. But more than a rabbi, Jesus’ reputation was spreading all across Galilee as the possible Messiah come to save His people and be their king.

According to Luke, Matthew left everything behind to follow Jesus, his occupation, money, protection from Rome, and his way of life, but most of all, Matthew left behind his shame and guilt as you and I do when we decide to follow Jesus. Indeed, it would take a while before Matthew won the confidence of other Jews, but that was of no concern because he was now a friend of the King of Kings. Matthew was delighted and invited Jesus to his house. It was undoubtedly a time to celebrate in the presence of his newfound savior.

The second scene involves Jesus and the Pharisees:

Matthew 9:10-13, “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. 11And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? 12But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 13But 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.”

Jesus visited Matthew’s home and reclines there, which was a custom in those days as they took a meal. They sat on the floor and reclined on cushions. Meals were a time to relax and to have a joyful time. Jesus is surrounded by other tax collectors and “sinners,” perhaps friends of Matthew. The sinners probably included prostitutes. It is understandable why these were present because they were primarily the type of people who would accept Jesus. However, this allowed the Pharisees opportunity to criticize Jesus, who was literally among extortionists, sinners, and prostitutes.

No self-respecting Jew in those days would enter into the home of a publican; neither would the Pharisees who stood on the outside grumbling to some of the other disciples who also stood outside since there was no room for all of them. In verse 11, we read, “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?”

I don’t know what the arrangement was; nevertheless, Jesus overheard what they said and replied in verse 12, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 13But 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.”

The Pharisees considered it a sin to mingle with sinners, but Jesus clarified to them that it was His purpose to call sinners to repentance. However, in the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus once again was breaking their rules established on the unwritten oral regulations of the scribes and not the Scriptures. Jesus was not breaking God’s Law; He was fulfilling it. Luke puts Jesus’ words it this way: “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance,” Luke 5:32 (KJV). 

Jesus declared that these people were spiritually sick and needed His mercy and forgiveness; However, the Pharisees did not feel any obligation. They felt that neither did God have mercy on such as they, the sinners. Sinners are not beyond God’s reach, but the Pharisees thought only they were subject to God’s mercy because they considered themselves righteous and all others beyond reach, especially publicans. Nevertheless, Jesus favored these sinners and not the self-righteous Pharisees who had placed themselves out of God’s reach by their actions.

As Jesus indicated, “He came to call the sinner to repentance, not the righteous.” The Pharisee’s greatest misconception of the Messiah was that they expected Him to endorse the Pharisaical Law and the rabbinical culture of that day. It was not at all in the Pharisee’s minds that they needed a savior to forgive them. Self-righteousness is a damning sin, thinking ourselves worthy of God’s approval based on our own merits and blind to how sinful we are. The Pharisees said they had no sin and were consequently left to their sins and eternal condemnation, while the sinners accepting Jesus as Lord and savior were forgiven and received eternal life.

The prophet Hosea gives some guidelines to avoid misplaced concerns: Hosea 6:6-7 (KJV), “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 7But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.”

What does it take to please God? Is it our goodness or our works and sacrifices? Hosea indicates that the Lord delights in mercy, which means our commitment and loyalty to him rather than sacrifice. The term sacrifice here is about the sacrifice of animals. The sacrifice of animals was required under the Law to recognize sin and as a foreshadow for when the Messiah would come and offer Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. In Hosea’s writing, why did God not prefer sacrifice? The next verse reveals why: He wants us to know Him or have a relationship with Him over a brunt offering. Brunt offerings were under the covenant of the Law, which had its place to reveal sin and its need to be punished. However, more important was the covenant of faith, which brings us to God with a relationship provided by the sacrificial shed blood of Christ.

The animal sacrifice system was a picture of when Jesus would come to offer himself as a sacrifice and an act of atonement and restitution required for those who sinned against God, which includes all of us: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 (KJV).

Now learn this: God is asking us to show compassion to others who are lost by sharing the good news of salvation to them, the same compassion He showed us when we were lost without hope. There are several ways you can obey the Lord and become a witness. Gospel tracks, which you can hand out or place in obvious places. I often us a business card that askes the question: If you were to die today, where would you spend eternity; the Bible says it will either be heaven or hell; it can be heaven. I include on the card a website URL that takes them directly to a step-by-step guide on how to be saved. If you are able to use the direct approach, you can ask people the same question I put on the business card: “If you were to die today, etc.” That requires you to know how to lead a person to Jesus, which is quite simple.