Jesus Has Come as the Healer of the Sins of All Men, But the Pharisees Criticise Him For Eating with Public Servants and Sinners (9:10-13).
Jesus now makes clear that He has come in order to save the undeserving. That was something that the Pharisees, who slaved at being ‘deserving', could not understand. Indeed they could not comprehend why, if He was of God, He could possibly behave in the way that He did. It went against all their principles. They failed to realise that God was like that. For to them God was a stern taskmaster Who did not give anyone an inch, or even half an inch. They had overlooked the laws about love and compassion.
Analysis.
a And it came about that as he sat at meat in the house, behold, many public servants and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples (Matthew 9:10).
b And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with the public servants and sinners?” (Matthew 9:11).
b But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are whole have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Matthew 9:12).
a “But you go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).
Note that in ‘a' Jesus sat down with public servants and sinners, and in the parallel it was because He had come precisely in order to call people like that. In ‘b' the Pharisees ask why Jesus eats with them, and in the parallel He explains why.