Jesus Calls Matthew^(A)

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s desk and told him, “Follow me.” So he got up and followed him.

¹⁰ While he was having dinner at Matthew’s^[a] home, many tax collectors and sinners arrived and began eating with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹ The Pharisees saw this and asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹² When Jesus^[b] heard that, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a physician, but sick people do. ¹³ Go and learn what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’^[c] because I did not come to call righteous people, but sinners.”