ESOCS Devotional 12 September 2026 – Jesus Came For The Sinners
MEMORY VERSE: “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matt. 9:13 KJV).
TEXT: MATTHEW 9:9 – 17
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 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 tax collectors and 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: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
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Could you imagine going to a doctor and complaining to him, “Listen, Doc. I don’t care too much for the kind of people you associate with. You always seem to be around sick people!” What a ridiculous statement! Who else would you expect a doctor to be associated with? In the same way, who else would you expect the Savior of sinners to be associated with than sinners who need to be saved? Jesus is saying, “Who else would you have me go to?” (Matt. 9:13).
It’s interesting to think about the people Jesus would spend time with if he lived physically among us today. Would he hang out with saints or sinners? Jesus surely would not have neglected either group, but it’s clear that he came for people who were spiritually desperate (Matt. 9:9-10).
Matthew was that sort of man. He was a tax collector for the enemy Roman government. Like other tax collectors, he may also have been corrupt, growing rich by charging excessive taxes and pocketing the extra change. He was the kind of person that hardworking, respectable people didn’t like. Most would have thought he had no chance with God. Yet, he was someone whom Jesus went after in his grace. Matthew was just the kind of person Jesus came to save.
Why did sinful people seem to flock to Jesus? For one thing, He loved them. He never condoned their sin, but they knew that He loved them. They knew they needed forgiveness. They knew that Jesus could forgive their sins. I believe they felt that Jesus looked past what they were right then, and saw them for what He had come to save them to be in glory.
Jesus’ words remind us that there’s no one his love cannot reach. He didn’t come “to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13). He came to share God’s love with people who were spiritually sick and unsavory. He came for each of us, no matter our sin. And he has called us to follow him.
When we are overwhelmed with our sins and tempted to lose heart or are burdened by particularly stubborn sins or discouraged at what seems to be a slow growth rate in our Christian lives, we need to remember that Jesus came to call people just like us—sick sinners who desperately need the healing of the Great Physician.
Jesus also calls us to reach out with his love. Are you building relationships with people in need of Christ, or only with other believers? Are our churches like hospitals where the sick and messy can find healing and mercy? May we be a friend to sinners, just as Jesus was.
Challenges:
- Are you a friend of sinners like Jesus?
- Do you reach out to other sinners that they may also hear the gospel message to get saved?
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you for rescuing the broken with your grace. May we be as loving and compassionate as you are. In your name we pray. Amen.
FURTHER READING:
Ezra 1: 5 – end; 2 Sam. 17: 17 – 29; Romans 12:1 – 8
ESOCS Devotional 12 September 2026
