And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”     Matthew 9:12-13 NKJV

Our Scripture passage today is when Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple. He saw Matthew at his tax-collecting booth and simply said to Matthew, “Follow Me.” Matthew did follow Jesus.

Matthew, being a tax collector, was despised by many. Tax collectors in those days could set the taxes at whatever they chose. They were given a specific amount to charge the people and turn over to the government, but they could tack on whatever fees they wanted to keep for themselves. For example, say the government wanted the tax collector to collect 20.00 from each resident, the tax collector could charge an additional 100.00 for his fee, which he kept for himself.

When Matthew followed Jesus, he gave a huge banquet at his home. He sat at the table with Jesus, His disciples, and many other tax collectors. The Pharisees were appalled that Jesus would have anything to do with one tax collector, much less a whole group of them.

The Pharisees were very knowledgeable of the law. They belonged to an ancient Jewish group or sect that was distinguished by strict observance of the written and traditional law or the Old Testament law. They tended to be very self-righteous and hypocritical, as you can see.

If we compare the tax collectors to the Pharisees, we see that the tax collectors recognized a need to be near Jesus. They recognized that they were sinners in need of salvation. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were more interested in the law than in mercy.

When Jesus told them to go and learn what this means, he was rebuking them. He was telling them that they should know what it meant to desire mercy and not sacrifice. It doesn’t matter how much we give to the church if we don’t show mercy to others; what good have we done? Without love and mercy, we can’t live the way God calls us to live. We can’t be followers of Jesus because we know He was all about love and mercy. Jesus preached that we should repent and be saved. We can be saved because of God’s mercy for sinners like us.

God doesn’t force His salvation upon us. He offers it freely, but we must be willing to accept it. We must first understand that we are sinners in need of salvation. Then we must surrender ourselves to Him. We must trust in Him and love Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind.

I spent many years living like a Pharisee. I was a sinner who thought I was doing just fine and had no need to surrender my life to His way. I thought because I tithed and went to church, I was doing well.

It would take a while before my sin would make me so miserable that I would become like those tax collectors. I finally saw that I desperately needed Jesus. And He was there for me. He showed me that He could use a sinner like me.

If Jesus can use a sinner like me, He can certainly use a sinner like you. He came to save those of us who were lost (Luke 19:10). If you have come to realize that you are lost in need of a Savior, He is there for you. He is loving and merciful and will accept you with open arms. The gift of salvation is freely offered; all you have to do is humble yourself and accept it.

Have a great day!