I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Today’s Gospel reading recounts the call of Matthew, a tax collector who, after receiving the summons from Jesus, decided to host a dinner in his house. And for a reason privy only to the host, it was an ‘open’ party where all kinds of people were invited, including the hawk-eyed Pharisees. The Pharisees, as was their custom, soon noticed an abnormality: tax collectors and other groups of people considered to be sinners were mingling freely with Jesus and his disciples. It was a sight that did not go down well with the self-righteous Pharisees. Since they couldn’t resist saying something about it, they pulled aside Jesus’ disciples to register their disapproval. In his defense, Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea (cf. Hosea 6:6) and adds that he did not come to call the righteous but sinners. It is a statement that must be understood correctly for fear of misrepresentation. For one might be inclined to ask: Why only sinners? Why not both sinners and the righteous?
I tend to believe that the answer to this lies in the word call (I came to call sinners). The salvation of the world is dependent on this one word call. And to understand this concept we have to go back to the beginning of the Gospel according to Mark where Jesus inaugurates the coming of the Kingdom by preaching repentance (cf. Mark 1:14, 15). Jesus was inaugurating the Kingdom by calling for conversion. The Kingdom inaugurated by Jesus was a universal one. Everyone was invited to come on board. However, coming on board had a requisite: one had to renounce his/her sinful past, make amends, and promise to stay on the new path (conversion). The kingdom inaugurated by Jesus is not a kingdom for sinners. One must renounce sin in order to belong. In other words, one must be called. Of course, all are called. Jesus' statement is not discriminatory. On the contrary, it is inclusive, for in the eyes of God, all are sinners (cf. Romans 3:23). In the eyes of God, all are called to repentance. All are called to enter the Kingdom. Jesus' statement was meant to be, if you prefer, sarcastic. It was meant to tell those who were complaining that none was righteous as they so thought. All were sinners in need of God's merciful forgiveness (I desire mercy, not sacrifice).