Matthew 9:9-13 9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Matthew was someone who was hated by most other Jews. He was a lowlife to them for several reasons. He worked for the enemy. The Jews reviled the Romans who oppressed them, so Matthew got lumped in with their hatred for the Romans. Not only did he work for Rome, but he stole from the Jewish people by demanding a higher tax than the government required. He helped himself to the difference between what he was expected to turn in to the Roman authorities and to what he actually received from the Jews. Matthew wasn’t welcomed by any other Jews, but Jesus? He was different.
The teachers of the law, the ones who promoted themselves to keep watch over everyone’s spiritual condition by making sure they followed the religious law to the letter, missed the spirit of the law entirely. Jesus overheard them ask why He would be eating with tax collectors and sinners. Rabbis were supposed to be careful about ritual purity. Maintaining spiritual cleanliness meant keeping your distance from anything that could defile you, from anything that could make you unclean. Jesus wasn’t following the “rules of religious distancing.”
Jesus’ reply was not only interesting, but I believe it is very helpful in giving us an understanding about how we should view sin and how we should interact with unrepentant sinners. In verse 12, Jesus likened sin to a sickness. He said it wasn’t the healthy who needed a doctor, but those who were sick. Doctor Jesus was making a house call to those who were sick. Jesus was called a friend of sinners more than once in the Gospels. Calling Him that was supposed to be an insult, but it was, in reality, an inadvertent admission of why Jesus had come.
I should highlight that the religious leaders were also sick, but for the most part, they were people who couldn’t see their sickness or wouldn’t admit it if they did. Their definition of righteousness had to do with keeping the law. It had to do with personal, human effort. They would never accept that their best efforts would never be impressive to God. They falsely believed they were righteous because of their religious behavior. Only Jesus, who lived a sinless, perfect, holy, God-honoring life in every way was righteous. We can never be righteous on our own. It’s interesting to me that of the 12 people who were called to be disciples of Jesus, none of them was a religious leader.
Now listen, Jesus doesn’t come where we are to become like us, but He comes where we are so that we can become like Him. When Jesus called Matthew away from a life of sin, he left behind his way of life for life with Jesus. Even by the time Jesus and Matthew arrived at Matthew’s house, Matthew was an ex-tax collector. He had quit his job, leaving behind a sinful life to embrace the life Jesus offered. What a beautiful testimony Matthew shares as he shares his conversion story. He was an ex-traitor, an ex-thief, and he was so excited about leaving that way of life behind and doing life with Jesus that he literally threw a party to invite all his sinner friends to come and consider becoming ex-whatevers themselves.
God is full of mercy, full of grace, and full of forgiveness, and through Jesus, He wants to be our friend. Performing some kind of religious ritual or routine isn’t what Jesus is after. He is after our hearts. He is after a relationship with us. And if a religious spirit or a religious routine keeps us from real friendship with Jesus, we have missed everything.
What does this friendship with Christ look like? Well, Romans 5:8 says that when we had nothing to offer Him in return, while we were sinners, Christ died for us. We have nothing to offer Jesus but our sin. He gained nothing by becoming our friend and had to give everything for us to do so, and yet that is the sole reason He came. We were on the chopping block. We were the guilty, but He died in our place. He took our sentence, suffering the death we should have died as punishment for our sin. And He did it willingly. Who does that? Jesus is a sacrificial friend. He gave His life for us.
Jesus is also a faithful friend. He experienced all the challenges and highs and heartaches of life like we do. He understands our need, our woes, our sorrows, our temptations, and our struggles. He walked alongside of humanity. He still does. Proverbs 18:24 calls Jesus the friend that sticks closer than a brother. He will accompany us wherever we go. He will stick with us in trials. He will comfort us whenever we need comfort. He will pick us up when we fall and will take us back even when we fail Him. We may be unfaithful to Him, but He will never be unfaithful to us.
Jesus stayed committed to His friends, His disciples, even when they were self-absorbed and when they misunderstood His teaching and He had to explain Himself over and over again. He remained loyal to them when they didn’t have His back, when they betrayed Him, when they walked away from Him.
I’m glad Jesus is a friend of sinners. We’d all be lost without Him. We’ve all needed His friendship. Semi recently I checked on a family. I invited them to church. This is a family with some church history. The response was interesting. They wanted to know if one of their children, someone who was caught up in a sinful lifestyle, would be welcome here. I’ll tell you what my answer will be any time I receive that question: Any friend of Jesus is a friend of mine.
When you think about the fact that Jesus is a friend of sinners, I want you to know that Jesus is proud to call you His own. I want you to remember He knows everything about you and still loves you. No matter what you’ve done, you haven’t out-sinned the sacrifice of Christ or His love. I want you to be confronted and comforted by the One who wants to spend time with you, the One who is always there for you. You are always on Jesus’ mind. He is always praying for you. He is always fighting for you. He has chosen you.
Second, when you think about the fact that Jesus is a friend of sinners, I want you to remember that we are to be like Him.
