The Parable of the Great Physician Matthew 9:10-13 10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’[a] For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”[ Description: The Pharisees strived to live their lives in a holy and perfect way. Some of them were said to fast twice a week, they gave offerings to God and everything that they did was in order to be found worthy of practicing the Law. Being holy and righteous before God was their number one priority and so when a popular new rabbi came to town they expected Him to spend time discussing things with them and sharing His wisdom. Instead of sitting down with them, though, Jesus chose to sit down and mingle with the outcasts and unholy people. This caused the Pharisees no end of turmoil in their hearts and made them speak out and rudely ask Jesus’ disciples for the reason behind Jesus’ behaviour. Jesus went on to share with them that his mission was to come and show the unholy a better way to live. He said like a doctor is helpful for the sick, so too he has come to help those that need help. You would have to wonder what sorts of things Jesus was sharing so that all the sinners were flocking to him. He must not have been coming to them with a judgmental or condemning message that the modern church continues to share with the world at large. Jesus wanted the leaders to know what mercy entails and wanted them to know that self sacrifice was not as good in the scheme of things as mercy. The Pharisees demanded that people follow the whole Law but they did not seem to lift a finger in order to help anyone out of the sinful lifestyle they were used to. Many preachers today teach that we all need to be holy and without sin, and yet they are not so forthcoming with the steps to getting free of any addictive sin in one’s life. We are two centuries on and still we have preaches demanding sinless perfection without the mercy for the broken hearted. In some churches today if a homeless drinker came in to visit church he would be told to leave. Application: Jesus wants us to be known for our mercy for others. He wants us to reach out and be a comfort for people that are without comfort. As Jesus’ hands and feet we should take the time to sit with and be friends with the people that loved Jesus. We should not be known to be one of the people that surround ourselves with the self righteous who are nice, clean and tidy all the time. Who is someone in your church that fits the bill? Have you got time for them this week?
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 06:14:57 +0000
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