⁹ "As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples.
¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
¹³ But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Interesting Details

• The scene is Capernaum, a well situated town for collecting tolls levied on all goods - most likely fish - transported out of the region of the Sea of Galilee.
• The same story is told in Mk 2:14 and Lk 5:27. In those accounts Matthew is called Levi.
• As in the case of other apostles, Matthew is called in the midst of the ordinary circumstance of his life and subsequently becomes a member of the Twelve (10:3)
• "I wish mercy and not sacrifice". While both sacrifice and mercy are required by law, mercy is the greater virtue. Accordingly, Jesus extends mercy to this tax collector whom others reject as a sinner.

Jesus seeks out sinners and oucasts and includes them in his circle of friends. He even calls a tax collector, Matthew, to be one of his apostle.

1. While I might not be called to leave my normal life to follow Jesus, his call demands personal change. How has Jesus called me? How has he changed me?
2. Jesus shows his compassion for sinners and outcasts. How has Jesus helped me to reach out to others? Especially those not like me?

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A synthesis by the Vietnamese Christian Life (Dong Hanh) Community