Not The Righteous
Matthew 9.9-13
Rev. Matthew M. Fry

As we continue to experience The Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught. But if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, Thou who art our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in the Gospel of Matthew. Listen. Matthew 9.9-13.

⁹As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. ¹⁰And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples.  ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  ¹²But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  ¹³Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

The Word of the Lord…Thanks be to God.

Matthew was a tax collector. Most of us have heard the stories about how the tax collectors were viewed. They were not the most beloved members of society. Stories abound about how they would take extra tax and that is how the tax collectors lived so well.

But I don’t think that is the only reason that tax collectors where despised. Exodus 20, the first two commandments. Don’t have any other God’s besides the Lord, and do not have any engraved images to worship. Jews weren’t allowed to put images of people, human faces, on their coins. Caesar had his image all over the Roman currency. And around the edge of the coin, proclaiming to all the world who he was, Caesar had words that would send a shudder through any loyal, devout Jew, and should to us. “Son of God…high priest” was who Caesar thought he was. We can understand how every Jew would be unhappy to handle stuff like that, and would not think highly of those whose lives were built by dealing with stuff like that.

And yet, this is exactly who Jesus calls to be a disciple. It doesn’t make sense. The Messiah ought to choose the best of the best, the most righteous by the law, not the sinners. And this isn’t some close case; this is a tax collector, who by definition is in violation of the first two commandments. It’s not that Matthew’s sin is breaking Leviticus 19.19b, “…nor shall you put on a garment made of two different materials.” Matthew isn’t walking around in a blended polyester suit. He is in violation of the two first commandments.

Yet, this is one of the folks that Jesus calls. Adherence to the law, or even to the commandments, is, from the first verse of this passage, not a requirement to be with Christ.

Immediately after Jesus calls Matthew to follow him, Jesus follows Matthew, presumably, into his house for dinner. Jesus and the disciples sit down to dinner with not just Matthew, but many tax collectors and sinners. And so the Pharisees see this and ask Jesus why this is. Actually, they don’t have either the decency to go straight to Jesus and ask him, or they don’t have the guts. The text says that the Pharisees go to the disciples and ask them why their teacher eats with tax collectors and sinners. But Jesus overhears them, and he responds directly to their question. He says that those who are well are not in need of a physician, but those who are sick. Jesus tells the Pharisees to, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’”

It’s a double statement, isn’t it? I mean, the bit about those who are well aren’t in need of a physician, but those who are sick; well, on the surface that sounds okay. It ought to come with a wink and a nod. It could have a feel of connection between Jesus and the Pharisees who, the statement would sound like, are doing exactly right. After all, he calls them “well.”

Except for this. Jesus is implying that he is the physician. Through his healing ministry, through his restoring ministry, he has been acting as physician. And the tax collectors and sinners are not physically sick. The issue is about social inclusion, and Jesus’ “healing” will address that issue. The system is about to be re-ordered; outsiders will be allowed in, the fabric of society will be altered as different people and different kinds of people will be eating with and in association with, those who considered themselves righteous. The insiders and their club are about to have their tables invaded by the tax collectors and sinners. Boundaries are being crossed here, and righteousness is being re-defined.

For now, inside the favor of the Messiah, eating at the table, are the sinners and tax collectors. Those who are known for breaking the commandments, especially the first two, are receiving the work of the great physician. The sinners are the ones who get the energy and attention of this healer who can perform miracles and forgive sin (9.6-7), which was what it is today, a divine attribute. This Jesus, who as recently as a few verses ago, has forgiven sin and therefore revealed a sense of identity with the divine, is eating with sinners and proclaiming that his energy and attention is going to them. Righteousness as following the code of the law not only takes a back seat, it is counted as insignificant.

For Jesus to say, “I desire mercy not sacrifice” is as much of a harsh statement as the one that follows it, “For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” The system of righteousness was based on sacrifice. There were many forms of sacrifice. One would be measured on the ability to sacrifice human desires by fasting or eating only certain types of food. One would be measured on the ability to sacrifice wealth to obtain appropriate offerings. In many ways, the religious order was based upon a system of sacrifice; the more a person could sacrifice the more righteous that one was and the more access was gained in society.

Yet Jesus’ words seem to be lost on us. We skip right over them and go to the next sentence, “For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” In essence, it was a non-necessary statement. Jesus has begun this section by calling Matthew who was sitting at a tax booth, to follow him. He has sat down to dinner with what we can presume were friends of Matthew, and are described as tax collectors and sinners. Jesus is enacting out this saying that he has come to call not the righteous but the sinners. It is a statement of the obvious when he makes it.

What Jesus’ actions show, mainly the fact that he was eating with these sinners, and what Jesus said about mercy are a key factor. The Pharisees were basing their question and their ordering of religious life on separating the righteous from the sinners. A sacrificial system was intact so that people could be judged, and positioned in their right place according to the law code. Not only is Jesus obliterating that boundary system, but in doing so he is also turning over the idea of who is in and who is out and who is worthy of sitting at the table.

The Pharisees have long been the representatives of the religious establishment and religious people, especially the establishment and people who maintain the exploitative social systems rather than bringing in God’s real reign where mercy and justice are the standards. We are Christians who live in the southern part of the United States of America. We live in the so called Bible Belt. I usually say we live in the buckle of the Bible Belt. We live in a time where the elected leaders of our nation call upon the name of God to bless our country. Somewhere, on some level, we might want to look at the fact that perhaps we are part of the social system and religious establishment. Can we look at figuring out what are the ways in which our pursuits and maybe even religious pursuits actually further patterns of division and separation? Can we seek to further God’s reign where there is neither slave nor free, male or female, insider or outsider, for all are one? How can we break down the boundaries that keep people out and instead work for the healing and restoration of the world?

Let us find ways to usher in God’s reign and live in the mercy of God. Amen.