Banquet at Matthew’s House, Matthew 9:10-13; Mark 2:15-17; Luke 5:29-32

Matthew 9:10 Then it happened that as [a]Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and [b]sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn [c]what this means: ‘I desire [d]compassion, [e]and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:15 And it *[a]happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and [b]sinners [c]were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and [d]sinners?” 17 And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Luke 5:29 And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and [a]sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Footnotes (Matthew)

a. Matthew 9:10 Lit He

b. Matthew 9:10 I.e. irreligious Jews

c. Matthew 9:13 Lit what is

d. Matthew 9:13 Or mercy

e. Matthew 9:13 I.e. more than

Footnotes (Mark)

a. Mark 2:15 Lit happens

b. Mark 2:15 I.e. irreligious Jews

c. Mark 2:15 Lit were reclining with

d. Mark 2:16 I.e. irreligious Jews

Footnotes (Luke)

a. Luke 5:30 I.e. irreligious Jews

Commentary

The capitalization of the pronoun referring to Jesus in these passages is a good demonstration of why it’s helpful to differentiate. I know a lot of people capitalize their pronouns any time they’re referring to a member of the Godhead, and they most often do it out of reverence. While this isn’t a Biblical commandment, I do think it’s a nice way to show honor and respect. However, I have made it a habit in my own writing primarily because there are so many times when there are other men who are also referred to as ‘he’ and ‘him’ within the stories I’m reading, and it is virtually seamless to read when Jesus’s pronouns are capitalized, whereas I find myself rereading text multiple times in versions or articles which don’t use the deferential capital.

Moving on to the study, as I mentioned in the last post, Mark and Luke refer to this tax collector as Levi, and Matthew refers to himself as Matthew. I’ve seen in multiple commentaries that some scholars believe Matthew (which means “Gift from God”) may have been a name given to Levi by Jesus, similar to the way He gave Simon the nickname Peter (https://www.biblehub.com/luke/5-29.htm). This is also just trivia, but I saw on the same page, in one of the literal translations, that Lewis is the English version of Levi (for those of you who find that sort of thing interesting). Matthew, as the author of his gospel account, proves that he so forfeited his former existence that he does not even know himself by his former name. Further, his humility is demonstrated by the fact that he does not call the gathering a “great feast” as does Luke, and his heart for his friends in inviting them to meet Jesus is consistent with the theme of his whole account, which focuses on convincing Jews of Jesus’s messiahship. This is evidenced in 9:13, where Matthew is the only author to quote the passage from Hosea (https://biblehub.com/matthew/9-10.htm).

Also in Matthew 9:13, the word righteous may be used “in an ironic sense, meaning self-righteous. Ultimately, as the Scripture tells us, “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10)” (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1193). By contrast, if you look at the footnotes about the literal translation of “sinners” it says irreligious Jews. This spoke to me, since I live in the South, where anyone who doesn’t go to church is a heathen, and the term sinners in this context refers to people who don’t strictly keep Jewish law. But this concept of irreligious Jews also supports the theme of Matthew; these were not necessarily people who were unfamiliar with Jewish teaching and law, but they had either fallen out of practice or had consciously decided not to attend the scriptures any longer. When these people met Jesus and recognized familiar scriptural prophecy, as well as their own deviance, the truth must have hit them like a ton of bricks.

Further, Jesus’s statement of purpose in the study passages (that He did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance) seems to deviate from what Jewish people had come to expect from God in the Old Testament. To give the Pharisees a little credit, they had been studying all the laws and rituals laid out by God over thousands of years, and to shift their mindset from God’s expectation of precision in obedience to what Jesus claimed was the new standard must have been unthinkable, to the extent that it discredited Jesus’s actual relationship to God in their eyes. This doesn’t mean their legalistic interpretation of Old Testament scripture was representative of the true nature of God or that Jesus’s teaching was inconsistent with God’s original plan for humanity. In fact, the Pharisees and scribes had simply gotten it wrong. They had lost sight of the spirit of the law, and Jesus came to breathe new life into humanity’s relationship to God, showing them God’s love and mercy, despite their shortcomings.

See the next post here https://onthepath.online/2019/11/15/parables-for-feasting-and-fasting/

Scripture References

Matthew 9:10

Matthew 5:46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same?

Matthew 9:9 As 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.

Matthew 9:11

Isaiah 65:5 They say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you!’ Such people are smoke in My nostrils, a fire that burns all day long.

Matthew 5:46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same?

Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and of sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her actions.”

Luke 15:2 So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Acts 11:3 and said, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

Matthew 9:12

Jeremiah 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?

Colossians 4:14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas send you greetings.

Matthew 9:13

Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Matthew 12:7 If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

Mark 12:33 and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.

Mark 2:15

Matthew 5:46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same?

Mark 2:14 As He was walking along, He saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Levi got up and followed Him.

Mark 2:16

Matthew 5:46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same?

Acts 23:9 A great clamor arose, and some scribes from the party of the Pharisees got up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

Mark 2:17

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure–who can understand it?

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.

Luke 5:29

Matthew 5:46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same?

Matthew 9:9 As 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.

Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and of sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her actions.”

Luke 15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus.

Luke 5:30

Matthew 5:46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same?

Luke 15:2 So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Acts 23:9 A great clamor arose, and some scribes from the party of the Pharisees got up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

Luke 5:32

Luke 5:33 Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees frequently fast and pray, but Yours keep on eating and drinking.”

Commentary

Romans 3:10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one;