INVITATIONS: JESUS WANTS YOU AS YOU ARE

2026-03-08

Pastor Jonathan Falwell

 Matthew 9:9–13 (CSB) As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him. 10While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

1. Jesus calls you where you are, not where you think you ought to be

vs 9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.

• As in Luke 19, Jesus calls a tax collector to follow Him. This seems to be a trend as Jesus will state in vs 13.
• Jesus, of course, knew Matthew as the local Capernaum tax collector. He had seen him many times sitting by the shore collecting customs or taxes from those who arrived. Matthew clearly had a “reputation” in the city. Yet Jesus called him just as he was.
• Donald Hagner said, “That Jesus should call a tax collector to be his disciple must have been in itself scandalous.”[i]

2. Jesus will come to find you

Vs 10 While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples.

• Luke 5 tells us that sometime after Jesus called him, Matthew threw a “grand banquet” for Jesus with all his sinner friends
• The most important takeaway is this: Jesus attended!
• Jesus went where the “sinners” were.
• Ben Witherington III said, “What is nonetheless striking is that Jesus appears to not require repentance in advance of having table fellowship with sinners and tax collectors.”[ii]

3. Jesus wants to find you…and others

Vss 11-13 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

• As was their normal course of action, the pharisees questioned Jesus’ motives and His methods. They couldn’t believe someone who claimed to be a religious person would dare go near the people known as sinners.
• Jesus corrected them when He heard of their disbelief, the sick are the ones who need the doctor!
• Then He uses a rabbinical statement to the pharisees. He tells them to “go and learn” what the Scriptures say.
• Howard Hendrickson – “It was to save sinners that Christ Jesus came into the world. He did not come to help them save themselves, nor to induce them to save themselves, nor even to enable them to save themselves. He came to save them!”[iii]

Application:

1. Everyone is of value to God, regardless of their past or present

2. His desire is to “go and find” not to “wait and see”

3. You are called to serve in His stead

[i] Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 1-13, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 33, Word Publishers, 1993.

[ii] Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, Eerdmans Publishing, 2001.

[iii] John Blanchard, The Complete Gathered Gold: A Treasury of Quotations for Christians, Evangelical Press, 2006.