Matthew the Tax Collector Is Called

Matthew 9:9-13 combines a call narrative with a controversy over table fellowship. Jesus encounters a man named Matthew sitting at the telōnion, a tax or toll station, and commands simply, "Follow me." Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 call the corresponding tax collector Levi, creating a longstanding interpretive question. Some scholars understand Matthew and Levi as two names for the same individual, while others think the First Gospel has identified the traditional Levi story with the apostle Matthew. The texts themselves do not explain the difference.

Tax collectors were associated with politically compromised revenue systems and could acquire reputations for exploitation, though it is too broad to assume that every collector was personally fraudulent. Jesus' meal with "tax collectors and sinners" becomes the issue for the Pharisees. His physician proverb interprets the fellowship as directed toward those regarded as spiritually or socially unhealthy rather than as endorsement of every behavior represented at the table.

Jesus then cites Hosea 6:6, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice," introducing a text that reappears in Matthew 12:7. In Hosea, ritual is criticized when separated from covenant loyalty; Matthew uses the citation to challenge a religious interpretation that obstructs mercy. The closing saying, "I did not come to call the righteous but sinners," contains irony whose extent is debated: "the righteous" may denote those who regard themselves as righteous, or the statement may simply contrast the intended recipients of Jesus' restorative mission.

Matthew 9 continues the concentrated display of Jesus' authority begun in chapter 8. The chapter moves through healing, forgiveness, table fellowship, controversy over fasting, restoration from chronic illness and death, and further healings of blindness and muteness. These episodes repeatedly place Jesus in contested situations: scribes question his authority to forgive sins, Pharisees criticize his association with tax collectors and sinners, John's disciples ask about fasting, and opponents finally attribute an exorcism to demonic power. Alongside these conflicts, several characters approach Jesus with striking confidence in his ability to restore.

The chapter concludes with a summary almost identical to Matthew 4:23, creating a literary frame around the teaching and miracle material of chapters 5-9. Jesus teaches, proclaims the kingdom, and heals, but Matthew now adds his compassion for crowds described as distressed and shepherdless. The resulting harvest saying prepares directly for chapter 10, where Jesus commissions the Twelve. Thus the authority demonstrated personally by Jesus in chapters 8-9 becomes the basis for the mission he delegates to his disciples.