Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick

 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.

Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in that house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  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."

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus 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.  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.  Now 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."

- Matthew 9:9-17

Yesterday we read that after healing the Gergesene demoniacs, He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city of Capernaum.  Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."  And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!"  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?  For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  And he arose and departed to his house.  Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

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.   Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in that house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  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."  Matthew the tax collector is also called Levi (Mark 2:14).   Jewish tax collectors such as Matthew were assigned by Roman overlords to specific areas.  They were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit, backed by the Roman state.  They were widely despised and also considered unclean because of their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption (11:19).  As Jesus is dining with them and has accepted a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me"), the Pharisees are offended.  But Jesus' defense is simple, and also central to our understanding of Christ and also of the Eucharist:  He goes where the need of the physician is is the greatest.  "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" is from Hosea 6:6.  My study bible says that this is not a rejection of sacrifice per se, but rather shows that mercy is a higher priority (see Psalm 51).

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus 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.  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.  Now 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."  Jews typically fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12) at Jesus' time and by tradition, on Monday and Thursday.  Additionally, there were public fasts which were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), especially on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19).  But Jesus presents the reality of His Presence, reflecting that the Jews saw the day of the Messiah as a wedding feast, which is a time of joy and gladness, a covenant which is the basis of life itself.  Jesus is proclaiming that day, and that He Himself is the Messiah/Bridegroom.   For Christians, then, fasting would be transformed.  My study bible says that it is not gloomy but desirable, a "bright sadness."   Fasting is viewed as a way to gain self-control and preparation for the Wedding Feast.  The old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law. My study bible says that in view of Christ these are imperfect and temporary; the new wineskins are the New Covenant and those who are in Christ.  The new wine is the Holy Spirit who dwells within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.

Christ as Physician is perhaps the most central image to the Gospels that we can think about.  His entire ministry and, indeed, the impact of the Incarnation, is to heal.  This is His mission.   Reconciliation is much more than a restoration of covenant between God and God's people.  It is rather a mission to heal and to restore a world in the image of its creation and through the sacrifice and love of Creator.  In this light, everything that Christ does is designed for healing, as medicine.  The Eucharist -- Giving Thanks -- is medicine for all of us in this perspective.   It is a way of drawing us closer to Creator, to the image in which we are created, unifying and linking us to Creator through what He has declared is His Body and Blood.   The ultimate unification is the wedding feast which we await, the return of the Bridegroom.  All of this is both declared and implied in today's text, as Jesus dines with those who are despised by the community for what they do to earn a good living -- often accompanied by extortion and seen as traitorous to the community.   Matthew is overjoyed to find that the Messiah is His Lord as well, and we know him as the author of this first Gospel.  This celebratory feast in His home is to introduce His friends to Christ, the Physician, the One who has come to those who need Him the most, whose medicine is mercy.