ISB ~ Matthew 9 v13

I desire mercy:Jesus challenges the Pharisees with Hos 6:6 (12:7). Understanding the prophet’s message will explain Jesus’ fellowship with “those who are sick” (9:12).

• Hosea addressed the Northern Kingdom of Israel and declared them sick and wounded by sin (Hos 5:13). Their rebellion against Yahweh (Hos 4:1-2), their rejection of the Jerusalem Temple, and their preference for idolatrous sacrifices (Hos 4:13-14; 8:11-13; 13:2) made this sickness deadly. The real tragedy is that Yahweh appointed Israel to be a physician to the nations, yet Israel acted irresponsibly and so contracted the very illness (idolatry) they were supposed to eradicate. Jesus cites Hosea to make an implied comparison between the prophet’s sinful contemporaries and his own critical opponents, the Pharisees. Just as the Northern Kingdom of Israel rejected the royal son of David (the Judean king) to sacrifice to idols, so the Pharisees have rejected the messianic Son of David (Jesus) in preference to the sacrificial and purity regulations of the Mosaic Law. By eating with sinners and tax collectors—whom the Pharisees considered unclean and untouchable—Jesus claims to fulfill Israel’s original vocation by reaching out to the sick with divine mercy. See note on Mt 5:20.

not to call the righteous:Jesus came, not to perpetuate the Old Covenant, but to inaugurate the New Covenant of forgiveness (Jer 31:31-34). His frequent fellowship with sinners was central to this healing work (9:12).