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When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Matthew 9:11-13 sits inside this longer paragraph.
As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, “Follow me.” He got up and followed him. As he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.
But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
When the Pharises sawe that they sayd to hys disciples: why eateth youre master with publicans and synners?
When Iesus herde that he sayde vnto them: The whole neade not the phisicion but they that are sicke.
Goo and learne what that meaneth: I have pleasure in mercy and not in offerynge. For I am not come to call the rightewes but the synners to repentaunce.
And when the Pharises sawe that, they saide to his disciples, Why eateth your master with Publicanes and sinners?
Nowe when Iesus heard it, hee sayde vnto them, The whole neede not a Physition, but they that are sicke.
But goe yee and learne what this is, I will haue mercie, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
61 distinct cross-references across this passage (62 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v13 Hos. 6:6; Matt. 12:7
Hos. 6:6; Matt. 12:7
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–13 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said…
11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
Ver. 11. And when the Pharisees saw it] As envy is quick sighted. See Ovid’s description of it. Βασκαινειν παρα του φαεσι καινειν. The wicked look around the saints, seeking to pick a hole in their coats; they pore and pry more narrowly than Laban did into Jacob’s stuff. "Walk circumspectly," Eph 5:15.
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They said unto his disciples] 1. Not to him; where the hedge is lowest, there the devil leaps over soonest; as he began his temptation with Eve, apart from her husband. Calumniare audacter, aliquid saltem adhaerebit, is a maxim in Machiavel. It is the property of defamations to leave a kind of lower estimation many times where they are not believed. 2. These hypocrites would seem to say this in pure pity to the seduced disciples, whom they saw to do the same with their Master. An ordinary trick among mischief makers. St Austin had these two verses written on his table,
" Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere famam,
Hanc mensam indictam noverit esse sibi."
Here is no room for railers.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Mark hath the same, Mar 2:16; so hath Luke,…
Mark hath the same, Mar 2:16; so hath Luke, Luk 5:30, only he saith they murmured. The Pharisees having a perfect malice to Christ, did not only seek all means to carp at him, but to bring him under a popular odium: this seemed a fair opportunity. The publicans being an order of persons who both for their employment, and perhaps also their ill management of it, were abominated by the Jews, and reckoned amongst the more notorious sort of sinners; they therefore come to his disciples clamouring against their Master, that he kept communion with publicans and sinners.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv11–12 See here, what a grief it is to wicked…
See here, what a grief it is to wicked men to find others brought in to Christ; the wicked pharisees murmur, repine, and envy, instead of admiring Christ’s condescension, and adoring his divine goodness: they censure him for conversing with sinners; but Christ tells them in the following verses, that he conversed with them as their physician, not as their companion.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–13 But when Jesus heard that,.... The charge the Pharisees…
But when Jesus heard that,.... The charge the Pharisees brought against him, and the insinuations they had made of him to his disciples; which he either overheard himself, or his disciples related to him,
he said unto them; the Pharisees, with an audible voice, not only to confute and convince them, but chiefly to establish his disciples, they were endeavouring to draw away from him:
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they that be whole need not a physician; by which he would signify that he was a "physician": and so he is in a spiritual sense, and that a very skilful one: he knows the nature of all the diseases of the soul, without being told them by the patient; what are the true causes of them; what is proper to apply; when is the best time, and what the best manner: he is an universal one, with regard both to diseases and to persons, that apply to him; he heals all sorts of persons, and all sorts of diseases; such as are blind from their birth, are as deaf as the deaf adder, the halt, and the lame, such as have broken hearts, yea the plague in their hearts, and have stony ones, and all the relapses of his people; which he does by his stripes and wounds, by the application of his blood, by his word and Gospel, through sinners looking to him, and touching him: he is an infallible one, none ever went from him without a cure; none ever perished under his hands; the disease he heals never returns more to prevail, so as to bring on death and destruction; and he does all freely, without money, and without price. So Philo the Jew calls the Logos, or word, , "an healer of diseases" (x), and God our legislator, , "the best physician of the diseases of the soul" (y). Now Christ argues from this his character, in vindication of himself; as that he was with these persons, not as a companion of their's, but as a physician to them; and as it is not unlawful, but highly proper and commendable, that a physician should be with the sick; so it was very lawful, fit, and proper, yea praiseworthy in him, to be among these publicans and sinners, for their spiritual good. He suggests indeed, that "they that be whole", in perfect health and strength, as the Pharisees thought themselves to be, even free from all the maladies and diseases of sin, were strong, robust, and able to do anything, and everything of themselves; these truly stood in no "need of" him, as a physician, in their own apprehension; they saw no need of him; in principle they had no need of him, and in practice did not make use of him; and therefore it was to no purpose to attend them, but converse with others, who had need of him:
but they that are sick; who are not only diseased and disordered in all the powers and faculties of their souls, as all Adam's posterity are, whether sensible of it or not; but who know themselves to be so, these see their need of Christ as a physician, apply to him as such, and to them he is exceeding precious, a physician of value; and such were these "publicans" and sinners. These words seem to be a proverbial expression, and there is something like it in the (z) Talmud, , "he that is afflicted with any pain goes", or "let him go to the physician's house"; that is, he that is attended with any sickness, or disease, does, or he ought to, consult a physician.
(x) Allegor. l. 2. p. 93. (y) Quod Deus sit immutab. p. 303. (z) T. Bab. Bava Kama, fol. 46. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv11, 13 The Pharisees said to his disciples, Why eateth your…
The Pharisees said to his disciples, Why eateth your Master? - Thus they commonly ask our Lord, Why do thy disciples this? And his disciples, Why doth your Master?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11–13 Verse 11. When the Pharisees saw it] He who,…
Verse 11. When the Pharisees saw it] He who, like a Pharisee, never felt himself indebted to infinite mercy for his own salvation, is rarely solicitous about the salvation of others. The grace of Christ alone inspires the soul with true benevolence. The self-righteous Pharisees considered it equal to legal defilement to sit in company with tax-gatherers and heathens. It is certain that those who fear God should not associate, through choice, with the workers of iniquity, and should only be found with them when transacting their secular business requires it, or when they have the prospect of doing good to their souls.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv11–13 Why eateth and drinketh ... - To eat and…
Why eateth and drinketh ... - To eat and drink with others denotes intimacy and familiarity. The Pharisees, by asking this question, accused him of seeking the society of such people, and of being the companion of the wicked. The inference which they would draw was, that he could not be himself righteous, since he delighted in the company of abandoned people.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12–13 They that are in health. The explication of which…
They that are in health. The explication of which is, I converse with sinners, that I may heal their souls from incredulity. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv11–13 And when the Pharisees--"and scribes," add Mark and Luke…
And when the Pharisees--"and scribes," add Mark and Luke (Mar 2:6; Luk 5:21).
saw it, they said--"murmured" or "muttered," says Luke (Luk 5:30).
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unto his disciples--not venturing to put their question to Jesus Himself.
Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?--(See on Luk 15:2).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv11–13 11. Pharisees — Their very name signifies separatists, indicating…
11. Pharisees — Their very name signifies separatists, indicating that they stood apart from the unholy masses. Said… Why — It was thought unsuitable for a rabbi to eat with the commonalty.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–13 11. when the Pharisees saw it] The Pharisees were…
11. when the Pharisees saw it] The Pharisees were not guests, but came into the house,—a custom still prevalent in the East. A traveller writes from Damietta, “In the room where we were received, besides the divan on which we sat, there were seats all round the walls. Many came in and took their place on those side-seats, uninvited and yet unchallenged. They spoke to those at table on business, or the news of the day, and our host spoke freely to them. We afterwards saw this custom at Jerusalem … first one and then another stranger opened the door and came in, taking seats by the wall. They leaned forward and spoke to those at table.” Scripture Manners and Customs, p. 185.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–13 (11) When the Pharisees saw it.—“Scribes of the Pharisees”…
(11) When the Pharisees saw it.—“Scribes of the Pharisees” (Mar_2:16). These were probably those who had been present at the healing of the paralytic. the scribes who had come from Jerusalem. They, of course, would not enter the publican’s house, but they stood outside and watched the mingled guests with wonder, and asked their two-fold question, “Why do ye eat and drink . . . (Luk_5:30)?” “Why doth your Master . . .?”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11–13 And when the Pharisees. Mentioned thus far only in…
And when the Pharisees. Mentioned thus far only in Mat_3:7 and Mat_5:20. This is, therefore, the first time that Matthew speaks of them as coming into direct contact with Jesus. Although Mark (cf. Luke) says that the objection was raised by those among the Pharisees who were also scribes (oi grammateiv twn Farisaiwn), yet the difference of expression from that in ver. 3 must not be overlooked. There the fact that they were scribes, accustomed to weigh the statements of the Law about blasphemy, etc., was prominent in the mind of the narrator; here it is rather the fact that they were Pharisees, men who by their very name professed to hold aloof from those who neglected the Law. Saw it. They could freely come into the court of the house, and when there could both see and hear what was passing in the rooms that opened into it. They said; elegon : dieebaat (Vulgate); "were saying." Their eager talk is brought vividly before us. Unto his disciples. Probably these were nearer to the Pharisees than Jesus himself was, or perhaps the Pharisees thought it easier to attack Jesus through them. On the naturalness of this remark in the mouth of Pharisees, vide Schurer, II 2. p. 25. Why eateth your Master (didaskalov); Teacher (Revised Version margin) is preferable, for both Pharisees and disciples realized that even Jesus" actions were intended to instruct his followers. But the reason for this action (why, cf. also ver. 14) they did not understand. It is possible that the order of the Greek points to irony on the part of the Pharisees. The man who presumes to be called Teacher, and whom the disciples accept as such, sets at defiance the primary rules of right and wrong. Professor Marshall (Expositor, IV 4. p. 222) explains the variants "teacher" (here) and "drink" (parallel passages) by the original Aramaic word for "drink" (awr) having been written here with the peculiar spelling of the Samaritan Targum (abr). With (the, Revised Version) publicans and sinners? Who form but one class (twn telwnwn kai amartwlwn). (For the thought, cf. Mat_11:19 Luk_15:2; also Psa_101:5 LXX)
Our Lord"s chosen associates.
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"Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?" The speakers were Pharisees; they were not guests, they were only watchers. Such feasts are very open and free, and persons are allowed to come in, and even to take part in the conversation, who do not share in the food. An Eastern traveller says, "In the room where we were received, besides the divan on which we sat, there were seats all round the walls. Many came in and took their place on those side-seats, uninvited and unchallenged. They spoke to those at table on business, or the news of the day, and our host spoke freely to them." These Pharisees were very particular about the company they kept, and especially about the persons with whom they ate. They represent the mischievous influence of class-feeling. They do more than that. They represent the loss of power which all men must suffer who make themselves, their feelings, their preferences, the first consideration.
I OUR LORD DID SOT CHOOSE HIS ASSOCIATES BECAUSE HE LIKED THEM. That may be a proper ground on which to select our private friends. It is not proper for one who has the trust of power which he is to use. Whether he likes it or not, that man must find the sphere in which he can best use his powers. No man ever did really noble work in the world until he learned to put his likes on one side, and just do his duty. But such a man is almost sure to find that a new set of likes grows up round his duty. The refined person does not like rough and rude associations. And the folk that Christ companied with could not have been very pleasing to him. The elegancies and proprieties and gentlenesses of refined society would have suited him better; and we can quite imagine the circle he would have preferred.
II OUR LORD CHOSE HIS ASSOCIATES IN ORDER TO DO THEM GOOD. He chose them as a teacher chooses his class, he seeks those who need his teaching. As a doctor chooses his patients, he seeks those who need healing. As a Saviour chooses his subjects, he seeks sinners, who need delivering from their sins. Mrs. Fry, for her own sake, would have sought and enjoyed cultivated society. Mrs. Fry, with a conscious power of ministry, sought out the miserable and degraded prisoners. According to our trust we must choose our associates. If we were here on earth only to enjoy, we might properly prefer luxurious Pharisees; but seeing we are here to stand with Christ, and serve, we had better, with him, find out the "publicans and sinners. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv11–13 Publicans and sinners.
Mat_9:11
Publicans and sinners.
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Appreciation an elevating influence
You cannot elevate, you cannot improve any man whom you utterly despise. You cannot bring the best out of a man if you do not believe that the best is somewhere in him. There is a shocking insolence in human judgments, and the tendency of them is to crush men down to their own base level, till the whole world is all thistles and all mole-hills, never a mountain and never a forest tree. When Cowper was a Westminster boy, he was despised as a shrinking, moping, ineffectual creature; it was not until the age of fifty, that in the warmth of loving appreciation, like flowers in the sun, the powers unfolded within him, which made him one of the sweetest of English poets. When Clyde became the hero of Plassy and the conqueror of India, his father said that he did not think the booby had so much sense. When Dal-garno, the ablest and most eloquent man of his day, went to an English countess as a candidate for the post of tutor to her sons, she insulted him with the remark that she could not possibly engage a person so stupid. So it is, we judge men not by what they are, not by what they might be, but by our own dull prejudices and ignorant misconceptions.
Men are elevated by an appeal to their best qualities
My brethren, the love that sees goodness and beauty in all human nature helps to make goodness, and to make beauty in human nature. The moon turns but one side to the earth; it has another side in which there may be silver lights and shades undreamed of, seen only by the angels of God. So there are two sides to your character and mine. The woman whom you despise when you meet her as so dull and commonplace is an angel of God to her husband, and the man whom you think so singularly stupid and ineffectual is a very idol to his mother and his sisters. What makes the difference? The man is the same. It is love makes the difference, it is appreciation, it is sympathy. To those in whom the man is not one of a class, he is not a publican or a sinner, or a heretic, or a Samaritan, but he is a human soul, who walks in the transfiguring glory of their affection. You think a person dull-why, that is because you are dull. An angel has been with you and you have known it not, and I imagine that to a spirit full of malice and self-conceit an angel would be very dull. Each human soul is like a cavern full of gems. The casual observer glances into it through some cranny, and all looks dark and sullen and forgotten. But let light enter into it; lift a torch up to the walls, let Gods sunlight fall into it and flood its open recesses, and lo! it will flash with crystals and with amethysts, and each separate crystal will quiver under the touch of brightness with a transporting discovery of its own nature. If souls do not shine before you it is because you bring them no light to make them shine. Throw away your miserable, smouldering, fuming torch of conceit and hatred, lift up to them the light of love, and lo! they will arise and shine; yea, flame and burn with an undreamt of glory. (Canon Farrar.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv11–13 11. When the Pharisees saw it. They were not…
11. When the Pharisees saw it. They were not at feast, but were on the watch. Why eateth your Master? etc. The strict Jews would not eat with Gentiles, and these classes were regarded by them on a level with the heathen (Acts 11:3; Gal. 2:12).
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv11, 13 Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
sinners
Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v12 Christ’s defense:
Christ’s defense:
v. 12. But when Jesus heard that, He said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
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v. 13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.
Jesus heard the murmuring and took the fault-finders to task. He quotes a proverb in explanation of His own conduct, implying, at the same time, a criticism of their position. A physician naturally finds his field of activity among the sick, such as feel the need of his services. Those that are well, or deceive themselves into the belief that they are in perfect health, resent the suggestion of a physician in their case. Christ is the true Physician of the soul. He that is spiritually well, that is righteous and perfect, without sin, feels no need of the Savior of sinners. Though there are no just persons in the world that would honestly belong to this class, the great majority claim perfection, a complete righteousness, for themselves. They want nothing of Jesus, the Redeemer. Only the meek and lowly in heart, that feel their sin and the curse of sin, they come to the Friend of sinners and accept healing at His hands. Jesus reminds the Pharisees, who might have felt the inference, of the word of the prophet, Hos 6:6. Mercy goes before sacrifice. All service of the lips and sacrifices of the hands, all mere outward worship, all dead orthodoxy, is an abomination before the Lord. A merciful heart manifesting its sympathy in deeds of mercy pleases Him. But the Pharisees of all times have never felt the need of the mercy of God, and therefore have never tasted its sublime sweetness. For that reason they feel no mercy towards their fellow-creatures. All those that are called after the name of Christ must be filled with the enthusiasm of the mission of Jesus.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v12 General Information:
General Information:
These events occur at the house of Matthew the tax collector.
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When Jesus heard this
Here "this" refers to the question the Pharisees asked about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners.
People who are strong in body do not need a physician, only those who are sick
Jesus answers with a proverb. He means that he eats with these kinds of people because he has come to help sinners. (See: Proverbs)
People who are strong in body
"People who are healthy"
physician
doctor
those who are sick
The phrase "need a physician" is understood. AT: "people who are sick need a physician" (See: Ellipsis)
You should go and learn what this means
Jesus is about to quote the scriptures. AT: "You should learn the meaning of what God said in the scriptures"
You should go
Here "you" is plural and refers to the Pharisees. (See: Forms of You)
I desire mercy and not sacrifice
Jesus is quoting what the prophet Hosea wrote in the scriptures. Here, "I" refers to God.
For I came
Here "I" refers to Jesus.
the righteous
Jesus is using irony. He does not think there are any people who are righteous and do not need to repent. AT: "those who think they are righteous" (See: Irony)
translationWords
mercy
sacrifice
righteous
repent
sin
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v13 9:13 I want you to show mercy, not offer…
9:13 I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices: God’s desire is applied to the question of table fellowship with sinners; Jesus’ mercy in eating with sinners contrasts with the Pharisees’ separation from sinners (symbolized as sacrifices). • Jesus revealed the true spiritual condition of the Pharisees, who think they are righteous; they failed to recognize that they were in fact unrighteous and in need of the Messiah’s salvation. See 7:1-5; 8:11-12; 19:30; 20:16; 21:43.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.