Matthew 9:13

Matthew 9:13

11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with ^atax collectors and ^bsinners?”

12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

13 But go and learn what this means: ^a‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, ^bbut sinners, to repentance.”

Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting

14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, ^a“Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

15 And Jesus said to them, “Can ^athe friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and ^bthen they will fast.

16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for¹ the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

<< Matthew 9:12

Matthew 9:14 >>

But go ye and learn what that meaneth— (Hosea 6:6),

I will have mercy, and not sacrifice—that is, the one rather than the other. "Sacrifice," the chief part of the ceremonial law, is here put for a religion of literal adherence to mere rules; while "mercy" expresses such compassion for the fallen as seeks to lift them up. The duty of keeping aloof from the polluted, in the sense of "having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness," is obvious enough; but to understand this as prohibiting such intercourse with them as is necessary to their recovery, is to abuse it. This was what these pharisaical religionists did, and this is what our Lord here exposes.

for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance—The italicized words are of doubtful authority here, and more than doubtful authority in Mark 2:17; but in Luke 5:32 they are undisputed. We have here just the former statement stripped of its figure. "The righteous" are the whole; "sinners," the sick. When Christ "called" the latter, as He did Matthew, and probably some of those publicans and sinners whom he had invited to meet Him, it was to heal them of their spiritual maladies, or save their souls: "The righteous," like those miserable self-satisfied Pharisees, "He sent empty away."

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Matthew 9:13:**

Isaiah 9:1
Ezekiel 3:20
Ezekiel 18:24
Hosea 6:6
Matthew 5:3
Matthew 9:9
Matthew 9:9
Matthew 12:7

<< Matthew 9:12

Matthew 9:14 >>

DISCLAIMER: Church of the Great God (CGG) provides these resources to aid the individual in studying the Bible. However, it is up to the individual to "prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21). The content of these resources does not necessarily reflect the views of CGG. They are provided for information purposes only.