Bible Notes

The Call of Matthew

Consider this an update of a previous blog on the same topic.

The account of the call of Matthew is intentionally set within the perspective of a pronouncement story where Jesus' attitude towards sinners are brought into focus. Publicans like Matthew were considered to be beyond redemption in Jesus' time. For one, they were considered enemies of the people. The fact that they collect taxes for the Empire makes them collaborators with the enemy. Second, they can never get themselves "cleaned" since the temple will not accept their money. Hence, they are perpetually unclean, that is, unfit to join the people of God in worship. When Jesus calls Matthew to join his group, he actually gives signals to everyone that the idea of clean-unclean/holy-unholy heretofore seen as undergirding the whole religious system of the Jews is not recognized by him. It is within this attitude towards religion that Jesus saying about publicans and prostitutes getting into the kingdom of heaven ahead of the Pharisees must be understood. Having said that let me go to a second point...

When the religious leaders of the Jews object to Jesus hobnobbing with publicans and "sinners" (=the prostitutes) they were objecting to the fact that Jesus -- an apparent populist religious leader -- is allowing himself to be rendered ritually unclean, and therefore incapable of presenting himself before God in His temple. To them, Jesus replies "Learn what this means: It is mercy I want, not sacrifice."

"It is mercy I want, not sacrifice." The words are from the Septuagint version of Hosea 6:6. Some contemporary bible translations would render the pluri-nuanced Hebrew hsd with "fidelity" "love", or even "piety". Here, the King James Version follows the Septuagint in translating the word as "mercy." The Greek eleoV  eleos in fact connotes, like hsd the idea of kindness required by God of men (Mt. 9:13, 23:3). In Mt. 18:33, one finds this interesting usage of the word: Should you not have pitied... as I pitied you mercy? This example simply shows that in the English language, eleoV can have different nuances with the root meaning "kindness, mercy."

The context of the passage quoted by Jesus in the Matthaean narrative is that of a prophetic protest against the insincerity of the Israel before Yahweh:

What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your piety (=hsdkm) is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that early passes away.
...
For it is love (hsd) that I desire, not sacrifice,
and knowledge of God rather than holocausts.

Religion is not primarily about sacrifices and offerings -- a theme that the prophets constantly harped on. It is about fidelity to God as expressed in a life obedient to the commandment as summarized in the words "Love God above all; love your neighbor as yourself. (cf. Mk 12:30-31; Matthew 22:38-39). So when Jesus tells the Pharisees to study the meaning of Hosea 6:6, he was actually telling them that the current attitude towards people like the publicans and prostitutes and the religious system that alienates them does not reflect a real knowledge of God.