I have been content to misunderstand this verse my entire life:

11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I always assumed that the Pharisees were righteous but judgmental, and Jesus rebuked them for not having mercy. The point: Jesus wants us to be kind to people, he doesn’t care about sacrifices. It is a good, sweet little message, but it’s not in the bible.

First, the bible teaches that no one is righteous. So of course Jesus did not come to call the Righteous. Second, the word mercy does not mean pity. It is a rich word that describes the special love God has for his people. His never failing, never giving up, always pursuing, never breaking, always and forever love. Third, Jesus specifically says, go and learn what this means. So finally I did.

Jesus is quoting Hosea 6. In Hosea, God is presenting Israel with her divorce papers. He says, you have refused to love me and have gone after wealth, beauty and pleasure. Therefore, I will no longer be your God. Israel responds by going through all the religious motions, they say the right words, and go back to making the offerings – but he cries out “I desire chesed, passionate, unbreakable love, not religious actions.” I want mercy not sacrifice.

Now, let’s apply that to the passage in Matthew. Why were the Pharisee’s angry? Because Jesus was doing it wrong. You see, Rabbi’s did not recruit, recruiting was beneath them. Every boy grew up dreaming of being a Rabbi. They would all study until they turned 13, then most would be turned away and told to find a job. The ones who were not turned away would go find a higher rabbi, and study even harder. Each year there would be another cut, but they would work harder and harder to prove their worth.

Jesus did not do it that way. Every disciple of his had been cut already. They were tradesmen, they had not proven they were worth his time. Even worse, they hadn’t even cleaned up their act. Matthew was still in his sin when Jesus called him, still behind the tax collector’s table. He hadn’t even cleaned up his relations, he still hung out with the bad crowd. He picked a loser.

And 1957 years later, he would walk into a dorm room and find another loser. A kid who was too slow and clumsy to be an athlete, too loud to be a good kid, too abrasive to be a cool kid, smart enough to get into Vanderbilt, but not nearly smart enough to be a scholar, not nearly rich or cool enough to be accepted by the social kids, a loser. He walked into a dorm room on a night when I was absolutely sure not a single person in the University would notice if I never walked out of again, and he picked me.