Who's better?

Journal: Matthew 9:13 Jesus is found eating at Matthew's house after he called him to follow. The Pharisees saw that he was eating with tax collectors and sinners and questioned his disciples. Jesus' response is, "it is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick." then he tells them, "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.(Hosea 6:6) I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." What DOES this mean? Could it be that Jesus is placing everyone on an even playing field? The religious, who are content to view themselves as better than the 'sinners', who are at the bottom of the moral totem pole, can't understand hanging out with them. It's easy to see that way when your lifestyle is one of trust in your abilities to be good. You build a sense of pride in all that you've accomplished and therefore see yourself as further down the road or better than those who don't act like you do. When Jesus says I desire mercy (or quotes God as saying that), he immediately crumbles the tower of right living underneath the Pharisees. It's mercy that brings you near more than your acts of sacrifice. Perhaps he's saying that the sinners have just as much right to him through mercy as you do. If it was based upon your acts and living, then they would have a lot of catching up to do. But since it's based upon God's mercy, the sinners are just as deserving. After all, we were/are all sinners and, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."