Sitting With Sinners
Mark 2:17 NIV
"On hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'"
I simply love this story because it doesn't need much explanation. The text makes it clear why Jesus was sent to live a life here on Earth. If we all lived righteous lives, why would we need Jesus? He could've sat on his throne and congratulated us upon our entrance into Heaven for being perfect. But that's just it. We're not perfect, nor will we ever be able to attain perfection. Even the lady at church, who doesn't have a hair out of place and sits with her nose to the sky as she judges the sweet mom in the back because her kids are too loud, cannot obtain perfection. Just like a healthy person doesn't need a doctor, we don't need a savior if we are saints. As sinners, we were in danger of death. But Jesus came to save us from the death that we would face as a result of our sins. He shows us this in Mark 2 when he calls Levi, the tax collector (a sinner) to be his disciple and sit with him at his table. Jesus had something that Levi needed. Just as a doctor has something a sick person needs; Jesus has something all of us sinners need too, and that's salvation. When we take advantage of that salvation, that forgiveness, that healing, that restoration that he has to offer, we will see the day when he congratulates us upon our entrance into Heaven. However, that congratulation will not be for living a perfect life. It will be for accepting that, while we may not be perfect, his perfection has made us pure.
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