The main point of this pericope is Jesus' response to the Pharisees' criticism that Jesus and His disciples kept company with tax collectors and sinners.
9:9 This incident probably took place in or near Capernaum. The tax office (NASB) or the tax collector's booth (NIV) would have been a room close to the border between the territories of Philip and Herod Antipas. There Matthew sat to collect customs and excise taxes. Capernaum stood on the caravan route between Egypt and the East. Matthew thus occupied a lucrative post. As mentioned before, the Jews despised tax collectors because they were notoriously corrupt, and they worked for the occupying Romans extracting money from their own countrymen (cf. 5:46).409
Jesus proceeded to do the unthinkable. He called a social pariah to become one of His disciples. Matthew was a sinner and an associate of sinners in the eyes of the Jews.
"The pericope on the call of Matthew (9:9) illustrates yet another aspect of discipleship, to wit: the broad spectrum of those whom Jesus summons to follow him. . . . Matthew . . . is a toll-collector. As such, he is looked upon by the Jewish society of Matthew's story as no better than a robber and one whose testimony would not be honored in a Jewish court of law. . . . Not only the upright are called by Jesus, but also the despised."410
"Since Jesus' mission is predicated upon mercy and not merit, no one is despicable enough by the standards of society to be outside his concern and invitation."411
Jews frequently had two names, and Matthew's other name was Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27). "Matthew"may derive from Mattaniah (1 Chron. 9:15) meaning "gift of God,"or it may come from the Hebrew emetmeaning "faithful."Perhaps because of its meaning Matthew preferred to use "Matthew"in his Gospel rather than "Levi."Matthew's response to Jesus' call to follow Him was immediate.
9:10-11 Matthew's own account of the feast that he threw for Jesus that followed his calling is brief, and it focuses on the controversy with the Pharisees that occurred then. Matthew had friends who were also tax collectors (cf. 5:46). "Sinners"is a term the Pharisees used to describe people who broke their severe rules of conduct (Pharisaic Halakoth). Eating with these people put Jesus and His disciples in danger of ceremonial defilement, but the spiritual need of these people was more important to Jesus than ritual cleanliness.
The Pharisees' question, addressed to Jesus' disciples, was really an accusation against Him (v. 11). A teacher would normally keep all the religious traditions as well as the Mosaic Law to provide the best example for his disciples. The Pharisees despised Jesus for the company He kept, which implied that He had a lax view of the law. Note that the Pharisees now become critics of Jesus as the scribes had earlier (v. 3). Opposition mounts.
9:12-13 Jesus Himself responded to the Pharisees' question. He said that He went to the tax collectors and sinners because they were sinners. They had a spiritual illness and needed spiritual healing. Note that Jesus did not go to these people because they received Him warmly but because they needed Him. In the Old Testament, God taught His people that He was their Physician who could heal their diseases (e.g., Exod. 15:26; Deut. 32:39; 2 Kings 20:5; Ps. 103:3). The prophets also predicted that Messiah would bring healing to the nation (Isa. 19:22; 30:26; Jer. 30:17).
The phrase "go and learn"was a rabbinic one that indicated that the Pharisees needed to study the text further.412Jesus referred them to Hosea 6:6. God had revealed through Hosea that the apostates of his day had lost the heart of temple worship even though they continued to practice its rituals. Jesus implied that the Pharisees had done the same thing. They were preserving the external practices of worship carefully, but they had failed to maintain its essential heart. Their attitude toward the tax collectors and sinners showed this. God, on the other hand, cares more for the spiritual wholeness of people than He does about flawless worship.
Jesus did not mean that the tax collectors and sinners needed Him but the Pharisees did not. His quotation put the Pharisees in the same category as the apostates of Hosea's day. They needed Him too even though they believed they were righteous enough.
The last part of verse 13 defines Jesus' ministry of preparing people for the coming kingdom. "Compassion"(NASB) or "mercy"(NIV, Heb. hesed) was what characterized His mission. He came to "call"(Gr. kalesai) or "invite"people to repentance and salvation.413If someone does not see himself or herself as a sinner, that person will have no part in the kingdom.
Disciples of Jesus need to be need oriented, as Jesus was. Meeting the needs of needy individuals, regardless of who they may be, was very important to Jesus.
