Jesus Calls Matthew

Matthew rises and follows at Jesus' call, and the meal that follows gathers tax collectors and sinners around him. Jesus answers the Pharisees by naming mercy over sacrifice and by describing his mission as a call to sinners.

A⁹s Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him. ¹⁰Later, as Jesus was dining at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹²On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. ”