Matthew Henry's
Commentary on the Gospel (Matt. 9:9-13)
Matthew Called.
9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named
Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me.
And he arose, and followed him. 10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at
meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with
him and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto
his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? 12 But
when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick. 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.
In these verses we have an account of the grace and favour of
Christ to poor publicans, particularly to Matthew. What he did to the bodies
of people was to make way for a kind design upon their souls. Now observe
here,
I. The call of Matthew, the penman of this gospel. Mark and Luke
call him Levi; it was ordinary for the same person to have two names:
perhaps Matthew was the name he was most known by as a publican, and,
therefore, in his humility, he called himself by that name, rather than by
the more honourable name of Levi. Some think Christ gave him the name of
Matthew when he called him to be an apostle; as Simon, he surnamed Peter.
Matthew signifies, the gift of God, Ministers are God's gifts to the
church; their ministry, and their ability for it, are God's gifts to them.
Now observe,
1. The posture that Christ's call found Matthew in. He was
sitting at the receipt of custom, for he was a publican,
Luke
v. 27. He was a custom-house officer at the port of Capernaum, or an
exciseman, or collector of the land-tax. Now, (1.) He was in his calling, as
the rest of them whom Christ called,
ch.
iv. 18. Note, As Satan chooses to come, with his temptations, to those
that are idle, so Christ chooses to come, with his calls, to those that are
employed. But, (2.) It was a calling of ill fame among serious people;
because it was attended with so much corruption and temptation, and there
were so few in that business that were honest men. Matthew himself owns what
he was before his conversion, as does St. Paul (1
Tim. i. 13), that the grace of Christ in calling him might be the more
magnified, and to show, that God has his remnant among all sorts of people.
None can justify themselves in their unbelief, by their calling in the
world; for there is no sinful calling, but some have been saved
out of it, and no lawful calling, but some have been saved in
it.
2. The preventing power of this call. We find not that Matthew
looked after Christ, or had any inclination to follow him, though some of
his kindred were already disciples of Christ, but Christ prevented him with
the blessings of his goodness. He is found of those that seek him not.
Christ spoke first; we have not chosen him, but he hath chosen us. He
said, Follow me; and the same divine, almighty power accompanied this
word to convert Matthew, which attended that word (v.
6), Arise and walk, to cure the man sick of the palsy. Note, A
saving change is wrought in the soul by Christ as the Author, and his
word as the means. His gospel is the power of God unto salvation,
Rom.
i. 16. The call was effectual, for he came at the call; he arose, and
followed him immediately; neither denied, nor deferred his obedience. The
power of divine grace soon answers and overcomes all objections. Neither his
commission for his place, nor his gains by it, could detain him, when Christ
called him. He conferred not with flesh and blood,
Gal. i. 15, 16. He quitted his post, and his hopes of preferment in that
way; and, though we find the disciples that were fishers occasionally
fishing again afterwards, we never find Matthew at the receipt of custom
again.
II. Christ's converse with publicans and sinners upon this
occasion; Christ called Matthew, to introduce himself into an acquaintance
with the people of that profession. Jesus sat at meat in the house,
v.
10. The other evangelists tell us, that Matthew made a great feast,
which the poor fishermen, when they were called, were not able to do. But
when he comes to speak of this himself, he neither tells us that it was his
own house, nor that it was a feast, but only that he sat at meat in the
house; preserving the remembrance of Christ's favours to the publicans,
rather than of the respect he had paid to Christ. Note, It well becomes us
to speak sparingly of our own good deeds.
Now observe, 1. When Matthew invited Christ, he invited his
disciples to come along with him. Note, They that welcome Christ,
must welcome all that are his, for his sake, and let them have a room in
their hearts. 2. He invited many publicans and sinners to meet him.
This was the chief thing Matthew aimed at in this treat, that he might have
an opportunity of bringing his old associates acquainted with Christ. He
knew by experience what the grace of Christ could do, and would not despair
concerning them. Note, They who are effectually brought to Christ
themselves, cannot but be desirous that others also may be brought to him,
and ambitious of contributing something towards it. True grace will not
contentedly eat its morsels alone, but will invite others. When by the
conversion of Matthew the fraternity was broken, presently his house was
filled with publicans, and surely some of them will follow him, as he
followed Christ. Thus did Andrew and Philip,
John i. 41, 45; iv. 29. See
Judges xiv. 9.
III. The displeasure of the Pharisees at this,
v.
11. They cavilled at it; why eateth your Master with publicans and
sinners? Here observe, 1. That Christ was quarrelled with. It was not
the least of his sufferings, that he endured the contradiction of sinners
against himself. None was more quarrelled with by men, than he that came
to take up the great quarrel between God and man. Thus he denied himself the
honour due to an incarnate Deity, which was to be justified in what he
spake, and to have all he said readily subscribed to: for though he never
spoke or did anything amiss, every thing he said and did was found fault
with. Thus he taught us to expect and prepare for reproach, and to bear it
patiently. 2. They that quarrelled with him were the Pharisees; a proud
generation of men, conceited of themselves, and censorious of others; of the
same temper with those in the prophet's time, who said, Stand by thyself,
come not near me; I am holier than thou: they were very strict in
avoiding sinners, but not in avoiding sin; none greater
zealots than they for the form of godliness, nor greater enemies to
the power of it. They were for keeping up the traditions of the
elders to a nicety, and so propagating the same spirit that they were
themselves governed by. 3. They brought their cavil, not to Christ himself;
they had not the courage to face him with it, but to his disciples. The
disciples were in the same company, but the quarrel is with the Master: for
they would not have done it, if he had not; and they thought it worse in him
who was a prophet, than in them; his dignity, they thought, should set him
at a greater distance from such company than others. Being offended at the
Master, they quarrel with the disciples. Note, It concerns Christians to be
able to vindicate and justify Christ, and his doctrines and laws, and to be
ready always to give an answer to those that ask them a reason of the
hope that is in them,
1
Pet. iii. 15. While he is an Advocate for us in heaven, let us be
advocates for him on earth, and make his reproach our own. 4. The complaint
was his eating with publicans and sinners: to be intimate with wicked
people is against the law of God (Ps.
cxix. 115; i. 1); and perhaps by accusing Christ of this to his
disciples, they hoped to tempt them from him, to put them out of conceit
with him, and so to bring them over to themselves to be their disciples, who
kept better company; for they compassed sea and land to make proselytes.
To be intimate with publicans was against the tradition of the elders,
and, therefore, they looked upon it as a heinous thing. They were angry with
Christ for this, (1.) Because they wished ill to him, and sought
occasion to misrepresent him. Note, It is an easy and very common thing to
put the worst constructions upon the best words and actions. (2.) Because
they wished no good to publicans and sinners, but envied Christ's
favour to them, and were grieved to see them brought to repentance. Note, It
may justly be suspected, that they have not the grace of God themselves, who
grudge others a share in that grace, who are not pleased with it.
IV. The defence that Christ made for himself and his disciples, in
justification of their converse with publicans and sinners. The disciples,
it should seem, being yet weak, had to seek for an answer to the Pharisees'
cavil, and, therefore, bring it to Christ, and he heard it (v.
12), or perhaps overheard them whispering it to his disciples. Let him
alone to vindicate himself and to plead his own cause, to answer for himself
and for us too. Two things he urges in his defence,
1. The necessity and exigence of the case of the publicans, which
called aloud for his help, and therefore justified him in conversing with
them for their good. It was the extreme necessity of poor, lost sinners,
that brought Christ from the pure regions above, to these impure ones; and
the same was it, that brought him into this company which was thought
impure. Now,
(1.) He proves the necessity of the case of the publicans: they
that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. The
publicans are sick, and they need one to help and heal them, which the
Pharisees think they do not. Note,
[1.] Sin is the sickness of the soul; sinners are spiritually sick.
Original corruptions are the diseases of the soul, actual transgressions are
its wounds, or the eruptions of the disease. It is deforming, weakening,
disquieting, wasting, killing, but, blessed be God, not incurable. [2.]
Jesus Christ is the great Physician of souls. His curing of bodily diseases
signified this, that he arose with healing under his wings. He is a
skilful, faithful, compassionate Physician, and it is his office and
business to heal the sick. Wise and good men should be as physicians to all
about them; Christ was so. Hunc affectum versus omnes habet sapiens, quem
versus ęgros suos medicus--A wise man cherishes towards all around him the
feelings of a physician for his patient. Seneca De Const. [3.]
Sin-sick souls have need of this Physician, for their disease is dangerous;
nature will not help itself; no man can help us; such need have we of
Christ, that we are undone, eternally undone, without him. Sensible sinners
see their need, and apply themselves to him accordingly. [4.] There are
multitudes who fancy themselves to be sound and whole, who think they have
no need of Christ, but that they can shift for themselves well enough
without him, as Laodicea,
Rev.
iii. 17. Thus the Pharisees desired not the knowledge of Christ's word
and ways, not because they had no need of him, but because they thought they
had none. See
John ix. 40, 41.
(2.) He proves, that their necessity did sufficiently justify his
conduct, in conversing familiarly with them, and that he ought not to be
blamed for it; for that necessity made it an act of charity, which
ought always to be preferred before the formalities of a religious
profession, in which beneficence and munificence are far
better than magnificence, as much as substance is better than shows
or shadows. Those duties, which are of moral and natural obligation, are to
take place even of those divine laws which are positive and ritual, much
more of those impositions of men, and traditions of the elders, which make
God's law stricter than he has made it. This he proves (v.
13) by a passage quoted out of
Hos.
vi. 6, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. That morose
separation from the society of publicans, which the Pharisees enjoined, was
less than sacrifice; but Christ's conversing with them was more than
an act of common mercy, and therefore to be preferred before it. If to do
well ourselves is better than sacrifice, as Samuel shows (1
Sam. xv. 22, 23), much more to do good to others. Christ's conversing
with sinners is here called mercy: to promote the conversion of souls is the
greatest act of mercy imaginable; it is saving a soul from death,
Jam.
v. 20. Observe how Christ quotes this, Go ye and learn what that
meaneth. Note, It is not enough to be acquainted with the letter of
scripture, but we must learn to understand the meaning of it. And they have
best learned the meaning of the scriptures, that have learned how to apply
them as a reproof to their own faults, and a rule for their own practice.
This scripture which Christ quoted, served not only to vindicate him, but,
[1.] To show wherein true religion consists; not in external observances:
not in meats and drinks and shows of sanctity, not in little
particular opinions and doubtful disputations, but in doing all the good we
can to the bodies and souls of others; in righteousness and peace; in
visiting the fatherless and widows. [2.] To condemn the Pharisaical
hypocrisy of those who place religion in rituals, more than in morals,
ch. xxiii. 23. They espouse those forms of godliness which may be
made consistent with, and perhaps subservient to, their pride, covetousness,
ambition, and malice, while they hate that power of it which is mortifying
to those lusts.
2. He urges the nature and end of his own commission. He must keep
to his orders, and prosecute that for which he was appointed to be the great
Teacher; now, says he, "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance, and therefore must converse with publicans." Observe,
(1.) What his errand was; it was to call to repentance. This was his
first text (ch.
iv. 17), and it was the tendency of all his sermons. Note, The gospel
call is a call to repentance; a call to us to change our mind and to change
our way. (2.) With whom his errand lay; not with the righteous, but
with sinners. That is, [1.] If the children of men had not been
sinners, there had been no occasion for Christ's coming among them. He
is the Saviour, not of man as man, but of man as fallen. Had
the first Adam continued in his original righteousness, we had not
needed a second Adam. [2.] Therefore his greatest business lies with
the greatest sinners; the more dangerous the sick man's case is, the
more occasion there is for the physician's help. Christ came into the world
to save sinners, but especially the chief (1
Tim. i. 15); to call not those so much, who, though sinners, are
comparatively righteous, but the worst of sinners. [3.] The more sensible
any sinners are of their sinfulness, the more welcome will Christ and his
gospel be to them; and every one chooses to go where his company is desired,
not to those who would rather have his room. Christ came not with an
expectation of succeeding among the righteous, those who conceit
themselves so, and therefore will sooner be sick of their Saviour, than sick
of their sins, but among the convinced humble sinners; to them Christ
will come, for to them he will be welcome.
