An expository sermon on Mathew 9:9 to 17

1. Sinners and “Saints”
Part 2
Mathew 9:9-17

2. INTRODUCTION to the topic and contextual background
Since the start of the book of Matthew, He
gives the message of God’s forgiveness of
repentant sinners. Forgiveness, is the
heart and soul of the Gospel message
and one of the theme of Mathew’s Gospel.
Last time we learned that the section we
just read, is the different responses to the
teaching and miracles of Jesus Christ. We
learned first about the positive response ,
where Mathew a small mokhes, the worst
of all sinners responded positively to the
call of Jesus Christ. Upon submitting to
Jesus, Mathew invites his friends to a
banquet. In the next verses we will see
another response.

3. II – The NEGATIVE response
“When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating
with the tax-gatherers and sinners?” (9:11)”
The response of the Pharisees was quite different
from Matthew’s. They were outraged that Jesus who
claimed to uphold standards of righteousness even
higher than their own would willingly sit down and eat
with such a sinful group. No doubt they were also
resentful and humiliated that Jesus had never shown
them such favor. If He were really a man of God, why
did he not eat with them ? The Pharisees did not
confront Jesus head-on but instead cornered His
disciples. The words Why is your Teacher eating
with the tax-gatherers and sinners? were more a
rebuke than a question. They not only resented the
fact that Jesus constantly rebuked their system of
religion, what really irritated them that Jesus dined
with sinners instead of them, considering that eating
with somebody in Bible times means identifying
yourself with that person.

4. II – The ARGUMENTS
But when He heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician,
but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not
sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (9:12-13)
When Jesus heard this accusatory question, He answered it for the disciples. He gave
three arguments in defense of His gospel of forgiveness and reconciliation
A.) The argument from human logic
The analogy is simple. Just as a physician is expected to go among people who are sick,
a forgiver should be expected to go among those who are sinful. Jesus was giving
Himself to those who recognized their deepest need. What sort of doctor would spend all
his time with healthy people and refuse to associate with those who are sick? “Are you
doctors,” He implied to the Pharisees, “who diagnose but have no desire to cure? Will
you tell a person what his disease is and then refuse to give him medicine for it?” He is
telling them, If you are indeed spiritually healthy, you do not need a spiritual physician.
On the other hand, these tax-gatherers and sinners—who you declare, and they
themselves admit, are spiritually sick—are the self-confessing sinners who need God’s
way of salvation presented to them.

5. B.) The argument from Scriptures
Jesus’ second argument was directly from Scripture. “Go and learn,” He said,
“what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice.’“ The phrase go and
learn was commonly used in rabbinic writings to rebuke those who did not know what
they should have known. Jesus used the Pharisees’ own most honored authorities to
rebuke them. Jesus here quotes the prophet Hosea, through whom God said, “I delight
in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings”
(Hos. 6:6). Jesus was saying it is God’s word that you should be concerned about not
the words of men and His Word calls you to be merciful and forgiving, not judgmental
and condemning.
It is interesting also that Jesus quotes from the prophet Hosea. The story of
Gomer’s unfaithfulness to her husband Hosea was a living illustration of Israel’s own
unfaithfulness to God; and Hosea’s continuing love and forgiveness of Gomer was a
picture of the continuing love and forgiveness God offered Israel. God had instituted the
sacrificial system, and when offerings were made to Him in a spirit of humility, penitence,
and reverence, they were pleasing to Him. But when offered insincerely and in a spirit of
self-righteousness and self-satisfaction, they became an abomination. God is never
pleased with religious routine and activity that does not come from sincere love of
Him and of other people. (Amos 5:21 to 24)

6. C.) The argument from his own authority
Jesus defended His work on the basis of His own authority:
I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. He
gladly associated and identified sinners, because they are
the ones who needed Him. The person who is sinful but
thinks he is righteous shuts himself out from God’s mercy,
because he refuses to acknowledge his need of it.
Kale (to call) was often used of inviting a guest to one’s
home for food and lodging. The inference here is clear.
Jesus did not come to call the self-righteous to salvation for
the same reason He did not call the Pharisees to recline
with Him at the dinner in Matthew’s house because they
think they are too righteous. The kingdom of God is for
the spiritually sick who want to be healed, the
spiritually corrupt who want to be cleansed, the
spiritually poor who want to be rich, the spiritually
hungry who want to be fed, the spiritually dead who
want to be made alive. It is for ungodly outcasts who
long to become God’s own beloved children.