Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Mark 2:17 I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners ...
THIS ONE IS MY CALL
What a startling word that is! Oh yes, in a way everyone accepts part of it. By nature we consider it fitting and proper that Jesus should call sinners to repentance. But the fact that His purpose in coming does not include a call to the righteous, that His appeal is not made to them -- that does not seem quite right! Yet there it is: if anyone refuses to be counted among the "sinners," he is outside the circle of those to whom Christ is calling!
Jesus spoke these words to scribes and Pharisees who were faulting Him for consorting with the "wicked." But Jesus was partaking of food with people, not partaking of their sin. The real problem for the Pharisees was that at the very least they were expecting from Jesus some word of praise for their doing so well compared to those sinners with whom He was eating. This they did not receive. It is the job of the governing authorities, the law, to terrorize evil-doers and praise those who do well (Romans 13:1-3). It is the law which operates with threats of punishment and promise of reward. But Jesus is the gospel. He takes upon Himself the punishment and freely gives the reward that His deeds, not ours, have earned!
Yet even as He takes the Pharisees at their own self-evaluation and says, "The well don't need a doctor," the compassionate Savior does know their sickness and continues to call them as sinners. And so He also calls to us: Son, your sins are forgiven you (Mark 2:5). Follow me (14).
