Bible in a Year - Women’s Thematic Reading Plan | Day 243

Day 243 of the Women’s Bible Plan: Read Matthew 9:9-13 and listen to the words of Jesus: “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.” Through Jesus’ calling of Matthew and His meal with publicans and sinners, this devotional helps us reflect on the mercy of Christ, the call to repentance, and the way we are invited to receive others with grace while also returning to the Lord ourselves.

🌸  Dear Sister, welcome to Day 243 of our reading journey. 

Sometimes faith can become outwardly neat but inwardly cold. We may know the right words, attend the right gatherings, understand the right teachings, and yet slowly lose compassion for people. We may see someone’s weakness and quickly judge. We may hear about someone’s past and instinctively keep our distance. We may see someone struggling in sin and forget that we ourselves are people who have received mercy.

In Matthew Chapter 9, Jesus passes by and sees a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. Jesus says to him, “Follow me.” Matthew rises and follows Him. Soon after, Jesus sits at meat in the house, and many publicans and sinners come and sit down with Him and His disciples. This scene deeply troubles the Pharisees. They ask His disciples, “Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?”

When Jesus hears this, He says, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Then He adds, “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.”

This passage invites us to hear the heart of the Lord again. Jesus does not take sin lightly, and He does not excuse it. But He comes with mercy to those who are spiritually sick, calling sinners to leave the old way and enter new life.

A Minute of Grace

Matthew 9:9-13 records the calling of Matthew. Matthew was sitting at the receipt of custom, a place that many people in that society would have despised. Publicans were often viewed as collaborators with Rome, greedy, unclean, and morally compromised. Yet when Jesus passed by, He did not first list Matthew’s sins, nor did He avoid him from a distance. He saw him and called him: “Follow me.”

That call changed Matthew’s life. He rose and followed Jesus. Then, in the scene of the meal, we see many publicans and sinners sitting with Jesus. To the Pharisees, this kind of closeness was unacceptable. They believed godliness should be shown by separation, purity, and keeping away from sinners. But Jesus revealed that true holiness from God is not cold distance from broken people. True holiness comes with mercy, enters human need, and calls people back to God.

Jesus uses the picture of a physician to explain His mission: “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” The sick need a doctor, and sinners need a Saviour. Jesus was not praising sin; He was healing sinners. He sat among them not to agree with darkness, but to bring light into darkness; not to lower the truth, but to lead people toward repentance through mercy.

“I will have mercy, and not sacrifice” also exposes the hardness that can hide beneath religious appearance. A person may offer sacrifices and yet lack mercy. A person may keep religious customs and yet refuse to draw near to the wounded. A person may think she is standing on the side of righteousness and yet forget that she also needs grace. When Jesus tells the Pharisees to go and learn what this means, He is also inviting every follower of Christ to examine her own heart: Does my godliness carry mercy? Does my separation still have love? Does my truth lead people toward the Saviour?

Today’s theme, “I Will Have Mercy, and Not Sacrifice,” invites us to reflect: Do we truly understand that we are people who have received mercy? When we see the brokenness and failure of others, do we first condemn, or do we ask the Lord to give us His eyes of compassion? When we recognize that we are still sinful, sick, and weak, are we willing, like Matthew, to rise from our own “receipt of custom” and follow Jesus?

Whispers for the Heart

1 Jesus saw Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom and called him, “Follow me.” Is there a place in your life that feels like a “tax booth”—a place where you remain stuck in an old identity, an old lifestyle, or an old sense of security? Is the Lord calling you today to rise and follow Him?

2 The Pharisees could not accept that Jesus sat with publicans and sinners. Have you ever kept your distance from someone because of her background, past, weakness, or struggle? How does this passage help you learn to see others through the mercy of Christ?

3 Jesus said that they who are whole do not need a physician, but those who are sick. Are you willing to honestly admit that you also need the Lord’s healing? What hidden pride, coldness, judgment, fear, or sin in your heart needs to be brought before the Physician of your soul?

As you read Matthew 9:9-13 today, do not only notice Matthew’s calling. Also notice how Jesus reveals the heart of God to religious people. The Lord desires mercy, not loveless religious appearance. He came not to call those who think they are righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Take a quiet breath before you begin. Bring your old identity, your judging eyes, your hidden weakness, and your need for the Lord’s mercy before Him, and let His Word meet you there.

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🪕 Response Hymn: 

Matthew 9:9-13 (KJV)

9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

13 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.

🪕 Response Hymn: 

💡 Closing Thought ·  Mercy Leads People Home

After reading Matthew 9:9-13, we see that Jesus did not look at Matthew from a distance. He came to the place where Matthew was sitting and called him, “Follow me.” Jesus was not afraid to sit among publicans and sinners. He sat with them so that they might meet the Saviour. What the Lord desires is not a religious appearance without mercy, but mercy that brings people back to God.

As we close this page and return to real life, perhaps today you need to rise from an old identity, old habit, or old bondage and follow the Lord. Perhaps you need to repent of a heart that lacks mercy. Perhaps you need to believe again that the Lord is willing to heal the hidden sickness within you. Remember this: Jesus is the Saviour of sinners and the Physician of souls. His mercy does not leave us where we are; it calls us out of the old way and into new life.

May today’s Scripture remind you not to offer outward sacrifice while losing the heart of mercy. May you be received in the Lord’s mercy and renewed by His truth. May your life also become a doorway through which others can see the grace of Jesus and come home to God.

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