Sinners And The Righteous

Et videntes Pharisaei dixerunt discipulis ejus, quare cum publicanis et peccatoribus manducat magister vester? Duplici errore tenentur Pharisaei: Cum magistro veritatis de susceptione peccatorum detrahant, arbitrantes se esse justos, qui a justitia longe erant, et eos criminantur injustos, qui resipiscendo a peccatis non parum justitiae appropinquabant. Errabant ergo Pharisaei, qui nec aliena nec sua noverant corda, sed Deus qui novit occulta cordis, eos quos jam poenitentes susceperat, amplius in fide confortat, et illos quos adhuc superbos tolerat et impios, ad humilitatis ac pietatis gratiam provocat. Nam Jesus audiens et pravas eorum cogitationes attendens ait: Non est opus valentibus medico, sed male habentibus. Tangit hic Scribas et Pharisaeos, qui justos putantes se, consortia aliorum declinabant. Seipsum vero medicum dicit, qui miro medicandi genere propter iniquitates nostras vulneratus est, ut vulnus peccatorum nostrorum sanaret: sanos quidem appellans eos, qui suam volentes statuere justitiam, justitiae Dei non sunt subjecti. Male habentes vocat eos, qui suae fragilitatis conscientia devicti, nec per legem videntes se justificari, poenitendo submittunt se gratiae. Euntes autem, discite quid est, misericordiam volo, et non sacrificium. Pharisaeis de falsa justitia tumidis, dat consilium correctionis. Faciebant saepe sacrificia in templo, ut justi apparerent coram populo, sed non exercebant opera misericordiae, ubi comprobatur vera justitia. Si enim vere justi essent, peccatoribus condescenderent, et de salute illorum, sicut de sua laborarent, quasi dicat: Vos aestimatis vos esse justos, sed euntes ad prophetas, discite, quid est vera justitia, discite quod ait Dominus per Prophetam. Ait enim: Misericordiam volo, et non sacrificium, tamen non despicit Deus sacrificium, sed sacrificium sine misericordia. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Caput IX Source: Migne PL 162.1330d-1331b

And seeing this the Pharisees said to His disciples, 'Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?' 1 Two errors have taken hold of the Pharisees. When they denigrated the master of truth for receiving sinners, they judged themselves to be righteous, they who were far from righteousness, and then they denounced those unrighteous ones who were looking to their sins and were not far from approaching righteousness. Therefore the Pharisees erred, neither caring to renew their own hearts or the hearts of others. But God 'who knows the secret things of the heart,' 2 received those who were becoming penitent, that He might fortify their faith, and yet tolerating those proud and wicked ones, He called them to humility and the grace of the piety. For hearing them and discerning their depraved thoughts, Jesus says,  'They who are healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are sick do.' He refers here to the Scribes and Pharisees, who thinking themselves righteous, refused to associate with others. He speaks of Himself as the physician who as a sort of wondrous medicine was wounded for our evils so that He might heal our sins. Certainly He calls them healthy who are pleased to stand in their own righteousness and not be subject to the righteousness of God. And He calls them sick who are cast down by the awareness of their own weakness, and seeing that they are not justified by the law, submit themselves to the grace of penance. Go and learn what this means: 'I wish for mercy and not sacrifice.' 3 To the Pharisees who were puffed up with false righteousness He gives counsel for correction. They would often make sacrifices in the temple so that they might appear righteous before the people, but they did not exert themselves in the works of mercy whereby true righteousness is proved. For if they were truly righteous, they would have cared for sinners and for their salvation, just as they laboured for themselves, whence it is as if He says: 'You who judge yourselves to be righteous, go to the prophets and learn what true righteousness is. Attend to what the Lord said through the prophet: 'I wish for mercy and not sacrifice.' Not that God despises sacrifice, but rather sacrifice without mercy. Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 9 1 Mt 9.11 2 Ps 43.22 3 Hosea 6.6