Matthew 9:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The declaration, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’ (Hosea 6:6), along with the statement that He came not to summon the righteous, but sinners to repentance, serves as a reminder from the prophet, highlighting the reproach of the scribes and Pharisees who, viewing themselves as righteous, shunned interactions with sinners and tax collectors.

Just as a healer in a hospital instructs the sick to avoid anything that might impede their recovery, Christ commands His followers to refrain from all that could obstruct their spiritual healing and eternal life. Those in the hospital who desire recovery listen to their healer and are made whole; in the same manner, Christians must heed the guidance of Christ the Physician and abandon that which He prohibits if they hope to be healed and saved. The sick who disregard the physician’s advice do not experience healing; likewise, Christians who neglect to follow Christ’s teachings remain unhealed and jeopardize their salvation when they prioritize their own desires over His instruction.

In a hospital, patients disclose their illnesses to the doctor, saying, "I am unwell with this and that." In the same spirit, Christians should candidly share their spiritual struggles with Christ, the heavenly Physician, seeking His healing touch, for as it is written, “It is not the healthy who have need of a physician, but the sick” (Matthew 9:12). It is important to recognize that in hospitals, not every patient finds healing; some conditions are beyond cure, and human efforts have their limitations. However, within the Church, every spiritual affliction can be healed if the individual genuinely desires it, diligently seeks, and petitions Christ. All things are achievable for Him who commands obedience from creation, whose word enacts wonders, bringing healing to the lame, cleansing lepers, restoring sight to the blind, granting hearing to the deaf, raising the dead, enabling the mute to speak, and uplifting the brokenhearted (See Matthew 11:5).

Christian, be aware of your weaknesses, humbly request healing from the great Physician, and await His response without doubt—He is faithful to restore you. Be cautious of anything that might obstruct His healing grace. In the hospital, those who wish to recover surrender themselves to the physician’s care. Likewise, Christians must entrust themselves fully to Jesus Christ, the wise and compassionate Physician, allowing Him to do what He knows is best. Whether His remedies feel pleasant or bitter, they are for our benefit, for He is a loving Healer who longs to restore our souls and grant us salvation. His mission on earth was to heal the broken and redeem us through His sufferings and crucifixion. He healed mortal bodies as proclaimed in His Gospel; will He not also heal eternal souls? Let us place our trust in Him—allow Him to decide how to heal us. We must strive to avoid anything that hinders His redemptive work. What value lies in a remedy if we act independently of the healer’s counsel?

Consider this, Christian, if your desire is to be healed and thus saved. We all suffer from afflictions and require a Physician's care. Yet, not all recognize their ailments, and acknowledging our weaknesses is the first step toward recovery. Many remain unhealed because they fail to see their frailties, often failing to strive for self-awareness. A person may notice their physical afflictions and seek remedy; how fervently should one pursue the healing of their soul when its dire condition is apparent! The unfortunate reality is that the soul's maladies are not visible, and only those who diligently examine their inner state can perceive them. Consider, then, the various weaknesses of your soul and seek healing from Christ, the heavenly Physician. The more aware you are of your spiritual deficiencies, the more earnestly you will pursue healing. An unhealed physical condition poses a threat of temporary death, while unhealed spiritual ailments endanger eternal life.

Redirect your focus inward, instead of seeking external distractions that often cause harm, and recognize the turmoil within your soul—the afflictions that torment it and lead it toward decay. You have entered the sacred hospital of the Church to seek healing from Christ the Savior and to attain eternal salvation, not to chase after worldly accolades or riches, arrange feasts, entertain guests, or indulge in other frivolities. Those seeking healing must come to be restored, not to fulfill personal whims. Take heed, Christian, of your delusions; turn from vanity and seek to understand the frailties of your soul, confessing them before Christ to receive His healing touch. As stated, “It is not the healthy who have need of a physician, but the sick” (Matthew 9:12). As the psalmist cries out, “Lord! Have mercy on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against You. My wounds from my folly have grown heavy” (Ps. 40:5, 37:6).

Do not delude yourselves into believing a perilous falsehood; God delights in extending compassion to you; He desires to save you; He seeks to redeem you by His own hand. Neither humankind nor celestial beings possess the ability to restore humanity, marred by sin. Only God, in His infinite power, can heal the ravages of eternal death. Acknowledge the severity of your fall; understand the seriousness of your plight; entirely renounce self-sufficiency; extend compassion towards yourselves, which you lack due to your arrogance, self-indulgence, hardness of heart, and spiritual blindness! Show mercy: align your actions with God's action; further, by your deeds, the work of God. O you hardened hearts, soften yourselves! Have compassion on yourselves and on all humanity: you, along with all people without exception, are creatures cast aside by the Creator for your willful defiance, miserable beings, rebellious and suffering in this life, the gateway to hell; creatures that multiply endlessly, continually harvested by death, devoured by the earth; beings expelled from paradise due to rebellion against God. Detest your sins and abandon your sinful existence. Yet this alone is not sufficient; you must recognize that your very essence is corrupted by sin, that the truths arising from it reflect a twisted and distorted nature (Psalm 50:7). View your truths as sins; regard them not as gains, but as the most significant losses (Philippians 3:7-9). Such truths, held dearly by those who cling to them, create insurmountable barriers to attaining the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3). Bow your proud, deceitful intellect before God's truth with humility and submission. It is revealed from heaven to mankind, brought by the God who became flesh; it leads to eternal life those who, denying themselves, renounce their sins and their distorted views, immersing themselves fully in the cleansing waters of repentance, guided solely by Divine truth. Let your good works stem from the fulfillment of God's holy will, not your tainted will! Let them represent the payment of your unpayable debt to God, which is impossible to settle due to His perfection and your frailty, weakness, and sin. Humility and the repentance born of it are the only conditions for receiving Christ! Humility and repentance are the exclusive price for knowing Christ! They are the only moral prerequisites for approaching Christ and becoming one with Him. Humility and repentance are the only sacrifices that God desires and accepts from fallen humanity (Psalm 50:18-19). Those who possess a proud and misguided self-image, who believe repentance is unnecessary for them and exempt themselves from being counted among sinners, are cast off by the Lord. They cannot call themselves Christians. 'They do not recognize their need for healing, falsely deeming themselves whole; the physician is the Lord, but only those who are aware of their illness,’ acknowledges their own sickness. To all humanity, the Savior of the world proclaims, ‘I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ Amen.

In the sight of Christ, mercy, manifested as an active expression of love, will be vital for justification and will earn pardon through mercy alone, as a testament to love. 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' declared the future solemn and unyielding Judge. Grace will grant justification to those who embrace it, and condemnation to those who turn away from it. It shall present itself boldly before the Lord and bring forth all those involved in its nurturing. It will gather those who have truly acted, who have fed the hungry, welcomed strangers, clothed the naked, visited the sick, and ministered to those in prison. Grace will intercede for those who have acted from the depths of their souls, showing compassion to their neighbors while refraining from passing judgment when they fall, forgiving offenses and responding to curses with blessings and wrongful acts with kindness. It will present the shepherds of the church before Christ, who taught their brethren the eternal truths found in the Word of God, dressed the sinful in the garments of virtue, healed wounded souls, and offered uplifting visits to those trapped in unbelief or profound error. Grace will also bring humble monks before Christ, who have grasped the profound and essential truth of the indwelling Christ, who have ardently thirsted for Gospel truth, diligently sought holiness, and purified themselves from worldly passions, thereby achieving Gospel freedom. Mercy will be shown before Christ to those who can only extend compassion to themselves through self-examination and liberation from the poverty, sickness, and prison of sin through genuine repentance. For someone with a hardened heart, repentance is unattainable; the heart must soften, filled with sympathy and compassion for its wretched state of sinfulness. When the heart is softened and filled with mercy, it becomes capable of true repentance; only then, while eschewing the condemnation of others, can it engage in honest self-examination, remedying its deficiencies through the healing power of repentance. Christ has redeemed all humanity through His sacrifice. The individual who can offer mercy to themselves will achieve it by nourishing their soul with the Word of God, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide them away from the destructive path of sin, bringing them into the abode of righteousness while adorning them with good works, healing their past sins through confession and opposite actions and releasing themselves from the chains of carnal thought, elevating their mind to a spiritual state—this person will be recognized by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. They will present all their works of mercy before Christ, imploring Him to grant them forgiveness and eternal joy. ‘Come,’ He will say to them, ‘blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you fed Me; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed Me; I was naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was imprisoned, and you came to Me... Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’ (Matthew 25:34-36, 40).

The Lord’s response addresses the root of the concealed afflictions of the Pharisees, encompassing the entirety of their spiritual condition. This response contains a harsh condemnation and rejection from God’s presence of all false human righteousness, which is intertwined with the condemnation of others. The spirit of temptation—so scrupulous, so malicious!—clings to the superficial aspects of the law while trampling on its true essence. O darkened and blind Pharisee! Listen to what the Lord declares: ‘I desire mercy.’ When you observe your neighbor's shortcomings, extend mercy towards them; it mirrors your own vulnerability! The flaw you glimpse in them today could become your own tomorrow. You are tempted solely because of your pride and blindness. You adhere to some external ordinance of the law, and for this, you take pride; you scorn and judge your neighbors for minor transgressions, while you fail to see the greater, hidden virtues that please God, unnoticed by your haughty, harsh heart. You have not delved into your own soul sufficiently; you have not recognized your own state: it is only from this blindness that you fail to see yourself as a sinner. Because of this, your heart has not been broken, has not been filled with true repentance and humility. It is because of this that you have not realized that you, like every other person, are in dire need of God’s mercy and salvation. To be unaware of one’s own sinful nature is a grave danger! Jesus has distanced Himself from those who refuse to see themselves as sinners: ‘I have not come,’ He stated, ‘to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ What a joy it is to confess oneself as a sinner! Those who admit their sinfulness can approach Jesus. What a blessing it is to see your own sins! How joyous to examine one’s heart! When one looks within, they often overlook that anyone else could be sinful. When gazing at their neighbors, they seem pure and radiant, like angels. Yet upon introspection, confronted by their own sinful stains, they become convinced that the sole path to salvation lies in the grace of God, that they are irrevocably indebted, not only for their transgressions but also for their failure to fulfill God's commandments in a distorted manner. Experiencing a need for mercy, they generously extend it to others, offering abundant compassion. ‘If you had understood what it means: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the innocent’ (Matthew 12:7). ‘I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’

This accounts for why the Lord taught the people using parables. Those who possess spiritual insight will decipher the parable’s meaning, while those who do not will remain uninformed. ‘For seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, and they do not understand. ... For the heart of these men is hardened’ (Matthew 13:12-15). Nonetheless, parables do not deny those capable of perceiving the concealed truth the chance for proper guidance: ‘To him who has, to him it will be given and multiplied.’

Do you not realize that your arrogance and lack of compassion are sins that equal you with those you despise in the eyes of the Holy God? This should lead you to seek the Healer who comes for the ailing. God desires mercy over sacrifice, but you choose to withhold compassion in favor of a false sense of righteousness. I did not come to earth for the self-proclaimed righteous, but for those who are broken and in need. If such righteous individuals wish to draw near to Me, they too must acknowledge their own shortcomings.

You Pharisees, who view yourselves as blameless and virtuous, fail to recognize your need for me as the Deliverer, and unless you repent and turn towards me, you remain beyond my saving grace; however, there are those eagerly seeking redemption, and I will offer them my salvation. Just as a physician tends to the needs of the infirm, my mission is to be with those burdened by their spiritual ailments, and I stand alongside tax collectors and sinners, much like a healer cares for the unwell.

Philaret of Moscow further illuminates the Lord’s message, urging that one should seek the teachings of the prophet to grasp the essence of mercy, particularly spiritual mercy, and recognize that God desires and demands it not just in preference to arbitrary human customs but also before the ritual practices mandated by His divine law.