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 5:29-32 NIV
The Backdrop
After Jesus made the shocking move of inviting a tax collector (who was considered by many of the Jewish population of the time as traitors) to follow Him, Levi (also called Matthew) threw a large banquet in His (Jesus’) honor. But not all who were at this party were happy about it.
The Pharisees and “Teachers of the Law (Torah)” seemed to have found it strange and uncouth that a Jewish traveling rabbi (Jesus) would be seen in the presence of such morally filthy people.
Jesus’ Response
Now that we know the backdrop, let’s examine 4 Key Aspects of this devotional:
- How Jesus Asks A Question In Return
- Why He Asks That Question
- His Own Answer to His Question
- What It Means For Us
A Question in Return
In His classic fashion, Jesus replies to their question by asking them a question in return. One of the reasons for this method seems to be that of turning on their brains, getting them to think. Because when they are forced to think about the situation instead of just react, it confronts them with the question of “is what Jesus saying and doing the truth?” And if so how will they respond?
As Commentary on the Situation
By relating the question of why being with these sinners and tax collectors to a sick person’s need of a physician, He is showing us and those who were listening that those who are in a lifestyle of sin are spiritually sick.
This speaks to us about the real effects of sin in our lives and in the lives of others. What is sickness but leading to death…likewise with sin. If we are not healed, we shall experience the ultimate form of death—spiritual death leading to eternal separation from God.
Jesus Answers His Own Question & Theirs
It is from this point of terror that Jesus offers hope! He says to us that though some are sick, He came to heal them! Jesus tells us not of His condemnation of us but rather of Him showing us the truth of our condition and offering us a way back to The Father!
A Knowing Jesus devotional written to expound on Luke 5:32 states it this way:
Every one of us is spiritually separated from the Father. Every man and woman is spiritually sick unto death for no one is righteous in the sight of God – but praise God that Jesus did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance – so that we could be made the righteousness of God – through believing IN HIM. For it is only in Christ that we discover forgiveness. It is only In Him that we gain eternal life.
But In Doing So Leaves Us With One Last Challenge
In Jesus saying He did not come to call the righteous, it might be easy for us to think that He was only talking about healing the “sinners at the table” and not to the “religious elite” who were standing there asking questions. But here’s the thing—from both the mouth of Jesus Himself saying that “no one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18) and the mouths of the apostles saying that “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” (1 John 1:8) (as well as those who came before them such as Moses referencing the people of Israel as “stiff-necked people” (Deuteronomy 9:6) and Isaiah expressing that “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6), we see that none of us is righteous.
As Romans 3:10 states:
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
That same Knowing Jesus devotional from earlier addresses it like this:
The Pharisees criticized the Lord Jesus for eating with sinners, not realizing that from God’s perspective there was no difference between the self-righteousness of the Jews and the unrighteousness of the publican, whom they so despised, for all missed the standard of righteousness that God requires from man, and all need to repent. Repentance means to turn away from one’s sins, and in turning from sin one can only turn towards Christ Jesus the propitiation for our sins, our only Saviour and the one mediator between man and God.
This means that even the “religious elite” of His day and our day who think that they are righteous because they follow the letter of the law without paying attention to the heart of the law, need Jesus just as much as those who spend every Friday Night and Tuesday at the bar getting drunk do.
Here’s the point,
“We’re all sick; we all need Jesus.”
For more from Tom, check out his book Logic Sanctity Deity.
Is it rational to believe in God? Do we even need a God? If so, who is that God and where does Jesus fit into the picture?
It’s no use in denying that we as people are broken and that’s a problem we can’t fix on our own. However, a man named Jesus said He was God, claimed he came here to make things right again between us and Him; thus, mending what was broken inside us.
