Scripture

When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Observation

Jesus goes to the lake to teach the crowds who come to him, he comes across the booth of Levi, that is Matthew, the tax collector and he instructs him to come and be his disciple. Levi gets up and follows him.

Levi invites Jesus and the disciples to his home, along with tax collectors and other so-called sinners The Pharisees see Jesus eating with these people, and they ask, “Why does Jesus eat with such scum?”

Jesus replies that it’s not the healthy people who need a doctor, but those who are sick. Likewise, Jesus did not come for those wo think they are righteous but for those who know they need a saviour.

Application

Jesus did not come for the self-righteous people who think they are right with God. He came for people who know they are sinners and that they need a saviour.

The problem in Western culture is that so many people are convinced that they are righteous. They are not sinners because they’ve never killed anyone or robbed a bank. They fail to see That we are all sinners because we are all self-centred.

A religious system based on laws and regulations cannot help because such a system leads either to despair or to self-righteousness. It deals with the outward behaviour, not with the heart.

Jesus is the only one who can set us free and restore us to the Father.

Listening

Lord, I’m always shocked by the attitude of the Pharisees towards those they call scum. What do you want to say to me about this?

Keith, those who think they acceptable to me will always find a reason to look down on those that they think are not good enough.

When I sent my Son into the world it was to those the system declared were broken beyond help or just plain sinful.

Christians can be guilty of this kind of self-righteousness. They forget that they were once the ones needing salvation, that they were once the people He used bad language or was sexually immoral, or abused drugs.

Stay humble before me. Don’t judge others for the sins that once held you in bondage.