Mike Focht 4/11/2025
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.
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. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, ‘Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’
When Jesus heard that, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 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.’
Matthew 9:9-13
People love to speak about Jesus sitting down and eating with sinners. This well-known passage is given various skewed applications. Sadly, many people are unfamiliar with what this account teaches about our Savior Jesus Christ. There are two main mistakes people make. They add to the account or take away from the account.
Those who add to the account believe this passage makes Jesus comfortable with sinners and their typical sinful ways. When some remark that Jesus sat down and ate with sinners, they are inferring that the real Jesus is not turned off by sinful ways, sinful speech, sinful music, or most sins in general. Their application is simply that Jesus is so loving and forgiving that all true representatives of Him should make every sinner feel comfortable in their presence.
Of course, most people who refer this passage in that way have only heard it secondhand and never read it for themselves. They have no idea what Jesus actually said at the dinner table. Jesus is not okay with sin in any form, nor is He in the business of making sinners comfortable. Two things here are very clear.
First, Jesus only eats with sinners to save them from their sins.
Second, Jesus’ message to sinners is about their need for repentance.
The Bible teaches us that Jesus will receive any sinner who comes to Him as a guilty sinner. And to that guilty sinner, Jesus will present Himself as the Savior and call them to Himself by repentance from their sin. Matthew, the eyewitness, is sitting at a table with Jesus as Jesus openly says He is hanging out with them because they are sinners who must be saved by repenting of their sins.
In contrast, the Pharisees—who are also sinners and seem to be very uncomfortable—are told to go and learn why Jesus would eat with sinners and call them to repentance. Any sinner who knows they are a sinner and is willing to repent will find an open seat of fellowship with the Savior Jesus Christ. On the other hand, if we defend our sin through license or legalism we will not be in fellowship with Jesus for very long.
Those who take away from this account also miss something important. Which is: Jesus calls repentant sinners to be His disciples. We must not forget this whole account is the personal testimony of the sinning tax collector, Matthew! Jesus doesn’t call perfect people to be His disciples. Still, He does expect them to maintain their fellowship with Him through humble repentance about their imperfections and constant obedience to His commands.
Jesus’ purpose in eating with sinners doesn’t end with their repentance. It begins with repentance, moves to discipleship, and ends in resurrection and eternal glory.
Matthew’s testimony becomes an essential doctrine for anyone who knows they are a sinner but still desires to be a follower of the perfect Lamb of God. If you want to follow Jesus, make sure you do so as a humble and repentant sinner. That is how the sinner Matthew was called to follow Jesus. That is how you and I are called to be followers of Jesus.