Just as a “sick person” desperately needs a “doctor,” a “sinner” desperately needs Jesus.

Just as a “sick person” desperately needs a “doctor,” a “sinner” desperately needs Jesus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth.  ‘Follow me,’ Jesus said to him, and he got up, left everything, and followed him.  Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to His disciples, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’  Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’” (Luke 5:27–32).

 

 

 

 

As I meditate on this passage, I would like to consider the lesson God gives us:

 

(1)    When I meditate on Luke 5:27–32, I am reminded that just as a “sick person” desperately needs a “doctor” (v.31), so a “sinner” desperately needs Jesus (v.32).  And the reason a sinner desperately needs Jesus is that Jesus—who is “God alone” (v.21)—has the “authority to forgive sins” (v.24).

 

(a)    When Jesus saw the faith of the “four men” (Mk. 2:3) who brought “a paralyzed man” on a mat, climbed up on the roof because of the crowd, removed roof tiles, and lowered him before Jesus (Lk. 5:18–19), He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven” (v.20).  But the scribes and Pharisees thought to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (v.21).  Similarly, when Jesus said to Levi the tax collector, “Follow me,” and Levi left everything and followed Him (vv.27–28), then hosted a great banquet at his house for Jesus—with many tax collectors and others reclining at the table (v.29)—the Pharisees and their scribes complained to Jesus’ disciples: “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (v.30).

 

(i)                 Comparing these two stories, we see that the Pharisees and scribes—religious leaders during Jesus’ earthly ministry—considered Jesus a sinner who committed blasphemy for saying to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven.”  And in the second story, seeing Jesus’ disciples reclining at table with tax collectors, they criticized them: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Mt. 9:11).  In other words, those religious leaders accused Jesus of being a sinner who committed blasphemy, and they also accused His disciples of sinning by eating with sinners (tax collectors).

 

·         Hochma Commentary writes: “‘Sinners,’ hamartōlōn (ἁμαρτωλῶν), not only describes a person’s relationship with God but also functioned as a term defining a person’s social status (Mk. 2:16).  For the Pharisees, the criterion for identifying a ‘sinner’ was whether one strictly observed the Law.  Those who possessed the Law were regarded as inherently holy; by contrast, those outside the Law (Gentiles) were inherently sinners.  The Pharisees also viewed as sinners those who did not keep their traditions—this included most people, even Jesus and His disciples (Mt. 12:1; 15:2) (K. H. Rengstorf, TDNT I, 317–35).  Especially despised were the tax collectors, seen as collaborators with oppressive Rome and exploiters of their own people—sinners among sinners.  Therefore, eating with such profane sinners violated an essential part of Pharisaic tradition” (Hochmah).

 

(ii)               Thus, when the Pharisees and scribes accused Jesus’ disciples of committing the “sin” of eating and drinking with “tax collectors and sinners” (v.30), from their perspective Jesus had already committed a sin by calling Levi—a tax collector who hosted the great banquet—to follow Him (v.27).

·         Hochma Commentary on ‘tax collectors’: “The Roman government sent censors to each region to collect various taxes—poll tax (Mt. 22:15–22), land tax, tolls, and so forth.  These censors subcontracted tax-collection rights to wealthy Jews for profit.  Those wealthy Jews then hired tax collectors to carry out the work.  There were two types of tax collectors: (1) those working at booths, collecting tolls and indirect taxes; and (2) those going door to door collecting direct taxes like the poll tax.  They were despised like prostitutes because: (1) they served as agents of Rome, the oppressor of the Jews; and (2) they imposed excessive taxes on everyone—rich and poor alike—and pocketed the surplus” (Hochma).

 

(2)    While I was meditating on these Scriptures, suddenly a message appeared in one of our group KakaoTalk chats: “My husband collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage while working yesterday afternoon and is currently receiving treatment in the ICU” (At 3:26 a.m. Korea time).  I was shocked when I read it.

 

(a)    After reading that sister’s message—asking the other five brothers and sisters in that chat group to pray—I asked her permission to also post the prayer request in another group chat, our “Prayer Support for One Another” group with 49 members, so that others might pray as well.

 

(i)                  Then I wrote the following prayer in the 6-person chat group and shared it with the sister and with the other four members who would read the messages later that morning: “Heavenly Father, our loving Father God in heaven, I believe You know the desperate heart of Your precious and honored daughter (sister’s name), who is pleading so earnestly for her husband right now.  Father God, we ask You to completely heal _______'s husband from this cerebral hemorrhage.   You know that his blood pressure must be lowered, and we trust that You will guide the doctors and nurses caring for him.  Please lower his blood pressure and heal every part of the hemorrhage completely.  Above all, use this crisis as an opportunity to reveal Your saving work, so that _______'s husband may believe in Your existence through Your presence.  May the day come when ________ goes up to the house of the Lord with her husband and their two sons to offer thanksgiving and worship.  I earnestly pray this in Jesus’ name.”

·         She replied, “Amen,” and I responded, “Amen together!”  As this was happening, Jesus’ words came to mind—words I had just been meditating on: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Lk. 5:31).

 

-          Right now, that sister’s husband desperately needs a physician who can treat a cerebral hemorrhage.  And at the same time, I believe that not only his body but also his soul desperately needs Jesus, the true Physician who can heal and save.

 

(3)    In today’s text, Luke 5:31–32, Jesus says: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Here I would like to reflect on the “healthy” and the “sick,” and the “righteous” and the “sinners.”

 

(a)    The “healthy” and the “righteous” here refer to the Pharisees and the scribes.  They pursued “self-righteousness” through keeping Moses’ Law.  In other words, they were legalists who sought justification through their own works.  Their religious devotion centered on “sacrifice.”  They believed that offering sacrifices removed their sins, and thus they considered themselves righteous [the “righteous” in Luke 5:32].

 

(i)                 Thus, in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18 about the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple, the Pharisee prayed: “God, I thank You that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give tithes of all I get” (Lk. 18:11–12).

 

·         This prayer shows clearly that the Pharisee regarded himself as righteous.  That is why Jesus said in Luke 18:9, “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, He told this parable.”  The Pharisee despised the tax collector praying in the same temple, and he thanked God that he was not like him.

 

(b)    But the tax collector prayed: “Standing at a distance, he would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner’” (v.13).   Unlike the Pharisee, the tax collector knew he was a sinner.  Therefore, he pleaded, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (v.13).

(i)                 This tax collector is exactly the kind of person Jesus describes in today’s text (Lk. 5:31–32)—a “sick” person, a “sinner.”  Unlike the Pharisees and scribes, he recognized he was a sinner.  Therefore, he prayed, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Lk. 18:13).  Such a person is the one who needs the “Physician” (5:31), and such a sinner is whom Jesus came to call to repentance (v.32).

 

·         Jesus called Levi the tax collector (v.27) in order to bring him to repentance (v.32)—to forgive all his sins, to justify him, to make him righteous.  In other words, the Lord called Levi in order to save him.

 

(4)    While meditating on Luke 5:31–32 today, I was also reminded of previous meditations comparing this text with Mark 2:17 (“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”) and Matthew 9:12–13 (“Learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”).

 

(a)    “Comparing Mark 2:17 and Luke 5:31–32 with Matthew 9:12–13, we see two differences.  First, Mark and Luke do not include the command, ‘Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’  Second, only Luke says, ‘I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’ (Lk. 5:32), wording not found in Matthew or Mark.”

 

(b)    “What God desires from us is mercy. But what we want to offer to God is worship (‘sacrifice’) (Mt. 9:13). And the worship we offer is worship without obedience (1 Sam. 15:22) and worship without the mercy God desires (Mt. 9:13).  A life without mercy resembles that of the Pharisees. We think we are ‘healthy’ (v.12).  We believe we are righteous by keeping Moses’ Law (Gal. 5:4).  Therefore, we think we have no need for Jesus, the ‘Physician’ (Mt. 9:12).  This is why we cannot understand why Jesus would ‘recline with many tax collectors and sinners’ and ‘eat with them’ (vv.10–11).  We believe we are different from them (Lk. 18:11).  We exalt ourselves (v.14) and look down on others with spiritual superiority (v.9).  While not showing mercy to the ‘many tax collectors and sinners’ whom Jesus Himself shows mercy to (Mt. 9:10), we insist on our worship.  We are truly the ‘sick’ ones who need Jesus the Physician (v.12).  We must realize that we are the sick, and that we need Jesus the Physician (v.12).”

 

 

(i)                 “Like a Pharisee, I pursue self-righteousness.  This instinctive selfishness of mine constantly pushes me to glorify myself—and even tempts me toward self-idolatry.  Being like a Pharisee, I fall into pride, develop spiritual superiority, and easily judge, criticize, and even condemn others.  Although Scripture commands me to ‘consider others better than myself’ (Phil. 2:3), the Pharisee-like self in me disobeys and thinks I am better than others.  Therefore, to fight this temptation continually, I hold myself up to the spiritual mirror of God’s holy Word.  When Scripture—“the sword of the Spirit”—convicts my conscience, this is God’s grace.  Recognizing my sin is grace because the more I recognize my sin, the more I understand how abundant God’s grace is toward me and how great and wide Jesus’ love truly is (Rom. 5:20).  As I see more of God’s great and overflowing grace, I grow to love Him more.  Thus, recognizing my sin is entirely the grace of God (Rom. 5:20; Lk. 7:47).”

 

(ii)               “Like a Pharisee, I consider myself better than others and quickly notice their faults, judging and criticizing them in my heart.  I think, ‘That person is doing something they shouldn’t be doing.’  My standard is not the Lord, nor the absolute truth of Scripture.  My standard is my misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the Scriptures (Mt. 22:29; Mk. 12:24).  In this wrong mindset, I even watch to see whether someone might commit a sin—rejoicing in wrongdoing (1 Cor. 13:6).  This is not biblical love (Mt. 22:39).  It is seeing the speck in my neighbor’s eye while ignoring the plank in my own (Mt. 7:3; Lk. 6:42).  It is pretending to be righteous while trying to catch my neighbor in a fault (Lk. 20:20).  This is the behavior of the wicked (Ps. 37:32; 119:95; Prov. 24:15).  I must repent of this evil behavior.  I must stop watching for others’ sins and stop making subjective judgments based on legalistic standards. I must stop criticizing.”

 

(iii)             “Like a Pharisee, I do not know that I am the sinner, while believing that others are sinners.  Physically I may be in the same room as them, but in my heart I keep them at a distance.  I think, ‘That person is doing something they shouldn’t be doing,’ and even watch to see if they might sin.  I distort truth and speak falsehood to win the approval of people.  I no longer want to live this way. From now on, I want to hate falsehood and speak truth—even if it means being disliked instead of praised—because a truthful life is blessed before God.  I want to stop watching for others’ faults and instead cover their shortcomings while correcting my own.  With the gospel of Jesus Christ, I want to break down the walls in my heart and stop committing the sin of showing partiality or keeping distance from others. Instead, I want to love my neighbor as myself, as Jesus commanded. Rather than judging or condemning others as sinners in my heart, I want to confess and repent of my own sins, relying on the power of Jesus’ blood, shed for a sinner like me.  May the Lord have mercy on me so that I may put away the Pharisee-like self and become one who resembles Jesus.”