Mat 9:9 And as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax-office. And He said to him, Follow Me! And he arose and followed Him.
Mat 9:10 And it happened as Jesus reclined in the house, behold, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Him and His disciples.
Mat 9:11 And when the Pharisees saw, they said to His disciples, Why does your master eat with tax-collectors and sinners?
Mat 9:12 But when Jesus heard, He said to them, The ones who are whole do not need a physician, but the ones who are sick.
Mat 9:13 But go and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
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| Matthew the Tax- Collector |
Introduction
The Roman Colonial Government shrewdly used Jews to Collect the Taxes for them. These Tax-collectors or Publicans were hated by the Jews because they were not only working for the opposition but they were generally thieves. They extorted more money than was required and pocketed more than their fair share. They were like collaborators with the Nazis in France during the World War 2. Matthew was a Tax Collector for the Romans. He collected the Tolls levied on goods passing through this custom post.
Mat 9:9 And as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax-office. And He said to him, Follow Me! And he arose and followed Him.
Notes
Saw a man named Matthew. Compare Mar_2:13-17; Luk_5:27-32. Such is the modest introduction of himself that Matthew gives. He was also called Levi (Luk_5:27).
At the receipt of custom. He was a tax collector, a publican, whose business it was to collect the Roman taxes. The People’s New Testament
The CALL to MATTHEW
And He said to him, Follow Me! And he arose and followed Him.
Notes
This was a Call to discipleship. It meant abandon your work and you previous life and attaching yourself to Jesus as an apprentice or learner. This meant following Jesus everyday, learning from Him and listening to His teaching and Imitating all He did.
It took just Two Words from Jesus to radically change Matthew’s whole life.
Jesus is still calling people today to follow Him.
Have you heard the CALL to Follow Jesus. To humble yourself to becoming a Learner and disciple of the Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ
Matthew or Levi as was his other name, probably knew Jesus as they lived in the same small town of Capernaum. What real knowledge he had of Jesus is uncertain but He left all at once, immediately, and followed Jesus.HE AROSE AND FOLLOWED HIM. He was willing to make a great material sacrifice to follow Jesus.L.M. p.219
Mat 9:10 And it happened as Jesus reclined in the house, behold, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Him and His disciples.
Notes.
And it happened as Jesus reclined in the house,
At that Epoch people usually ate reclining on long beds or recliners around the table
many tax-collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Him and His disciples.
Probably the old friends of Matthew who had been invited by him. The character of a “publican,” or tax-gatherer, among the Jews was commonly not very respectable (see notes at Mat_5:47; Mat_18:17), and there is no improbability in supposing that Matthew, before his conversion, had sustained the general character of such people, and that his associations and friendships had been among those who were not remarkable for their morality.A.Clark
The Asbury Bible Commentary “Wesleyan Christians might see here a specific illustration of Wesley's insistence on the universality of God's gift of grace. Jews and Gentiles alike scorned tax collectors as a group for their nosy and criminal behavior. For the Jew in particular, they were suspect for their collaboration with Rome in an oppressive system of taxation.
Sinners were probably defined as people who had adopted publicly immoral lifestyles. By calling Levi to discipleship, then eating with people deemed socially and religiously unacceptable by the religious leaders of his day, Jesus reinterprets God's grace. It is extended not to a select few who believe they deserve it, but to all in need.
Mat 9:11 And when the Pharisees saw, they said to His disciples, Why does your master eat with tax-collectors and sinners?
Notes
But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?"
In Jesus’ day, rabbis and other spiritual leaders were the highest members of Jewish society. Everyone looked up to the Pharisees. They were strict adherents to the Law and tradition, and they avoided those whom they deemed “sinners” because they had a “clean” image to maintain. Tax collectors, infamous for embezzlement and their cooperation with the hated Romans, definitely fell into the “sinner” category.
As Jesus’ ministry grew, so did His popularity among the social outcasts of society. Now that Matthew was part of His inner circle, Jesus naturally had more contact with the pariahs in Matthew’s circle. Spending time with the publicans and sinners was part of Jesus’ mission: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). If Jesus was to reach the lost, He must have some contact with them. He went to where the need was because “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Praise the Lord, the Great Physician makes house calls.
Sitting at Matthew’s dinner table, Jesus may have broken some societal taboos, but His presence there shows that He looked beyond culture to people’s hearts. Whereas the Pharisees wrote people off simply because of their profession or their past, Jesus looked past all that and saw their need. gotquestions.com
Mat 9:12 But when Jesus heard, He said to them, The ones who are whole do not need a physician, but the ones who are sick.
Notes
Jesus came to seek and to save the Lost, the undone, the sinners and the broken.
The ones who are whole do not need a physician, but the ones who are sick.
He is the Great Physician for sinsick humanity.
If you are hurting, unworthy, lonely and broken come to Jesus today. He will save you and heal your broken Life.
Mat 9:13 But go and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Notes
I will have mercy and not sacrifice.
Jesus has paid it all for you. He is full of Mercy meaning Thayer Definition:
1) mercy: kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them
Jesus is not asking for you to sacrifice your money, or your family. He wants to make you whole
For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
I came not to call the righteous ... - No human beings are by nature righteous, Psa_14:3; Rom_1:18-32; Rom_3:10-18. The Pharisees, however, “pretended” to be righteous. Christ might have meant by this answer that it was not the design of his coming to cal such persons to repentance, knowing that they would spurn his efforts, and that to a great extent they would be vain; or, more probably, he meant to affirm that his proper and only business was to call to repentance such people as he was now with. He came to seek and save such, and it was his “proper business,” therefore, to associate with them.
but sinners to repentance.
If you realise you are a sinner and morally unclean, Jesus is calling you to repentance
REPENTANCE metanoia Thayer Definition:
1) a change of mind, as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done.
Are you willing to change your mind about your sin and see it for what it is. Christ is calling you to leave you old sinful ways and relationships and like Matthew to follow Him with all your heart.
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