OUR FATHER WHOSE SON CAME FOR SINNERS

The book of Mathew chapter 9 verses 9 - 13, records the  calling of Mathew himself and also records Mathew's millieu.

9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 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.”

The testimony of Mathew, one of the disciples of Jesus, was that he was called by Jesus directly out of his work place at a tax office.

In response, Mathew invited Jesus and his other followers to his home for dinner (as per other translations. NKJV does not identify where the dinner was held)

Others who were invited to the dinner were other tax collectors and people outside the religious establishment's acceptance.

When this came to the attention of the religious leaders, they asked why Jesus, if He were a true man of God, would eat with tax collectors and sinners.

Jesus's irrefutable response was that if a physician came to a location, those who were in good health would not need to associate with him but those who were sick needed to get close to the one who could cure what ailed them.

Referencing Hosea chapter 6 verse 6, which reads;

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Jesus told the religious  leaders to learn what the prophet meant by the phrase, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice."

This revelation rebutts the sanctimony of the religious enforcers by highlighting that God's primary concern is love and mercy for people over the offerings of sacrifices and religious practices and observances. The verse goes on to include the idea that getting to know God supercedes the presentation of burnt offerings.

With God being represented as One who was focused on the redemtion and reclamation of human beings, it should have been clear to the religious leaders that the One sent from God would be found interacting with sinners as a physician would interact with the sick.

Amen.

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