Daily Thoughts from Mark: Who Needs a Physician? (Mark 2:13-17)

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:13-17, ESV)

If you thought inviting uneducated fishermen to be your disciples was a stray from the norm, inviting a tax collector was crazy.  But Matthew (Levi’s other name, see Mark 3:18; Matthew 9:9) had apparently been responsive to Jesus’ teaching and no doubt, if he had been dishonest, as many tax collectors were, he had repented.  And Jesus saw in him the makings of a solid disciple.

Matthew (Levi) held a dinner to honor Jesus and to bring together his many fellow tax collectors and others who were considered “sinners” and this irked the Pharisees.  The Pharisees were a group that originally formed to practice holiness and hopefully bring up the standard among their people as a way of inviting God’s kingdom to come.  But here with the King among them they fail to recognize him and instead feel challenged by his methods and complain to his disciples.

To their question, which implies that Jesus should have nothing to do with such lowly sinners, Jesus responds with compassion that these people were sick and needed healing.  His mission was to reach those who were far from God and he was succeeding at it.  This should have been a lesson for the Pharisees and been seen as in line with their original goals.  But they had become self-righteous, not realizing that they were also sick and in need of a spiritual physician.  They were sinners too.

Are we reaching out to those who need healing?  Are we willing to make disciples of those who seem far from God?  How much do we want to be like Jesus?  Someone reached out to me.  I didn’t realize I was sick.  But Jesus knew and sought me out through a friend at school and through a young man who was sharing his testimony at my church.  I said I was an agnostic, but I became a believer when I realized how sick I was and how Jesus wanted to heal me.  What’s your story?