Matthew the Tax Collector^(A)

^9 (B)As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

^10 (C)Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with ^(D)tax collectors and ^(E)sinners?”

¹² When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ^(F)‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, ^(G)but sinners, ^[a]to repentance.”

Impenitence of Israel and Judah

Jesus Comes to Zacchaeus’ House

19 Then Jesus entered and passed through ^(A)Jericho. ² Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³ And he sought to ^(B)see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. ⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up ^[a]and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, ^[b]make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” ⁶ So he ^[c]made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. ⁷ But when they saw it, they all ^[d]complained, saying, ^(C)“He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

⁸ Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the ^(D)poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by ^(E)false accusation, ^(F)I restore fourfold.”

⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because ^(G)he also is ^(H)a son of Abraham; ^10 (I)for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

^15 (A)This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that ^(B)Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. ¹⁶ However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.