When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?"
And hearing {this,} Jesus *said to them, "{It is} not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
That Jesus would not only converse, but dine with the "common, dirty folk" was astounding to the Pharisees, whose name literally meant "separated ones." They were secure intheir religious ways, including quiet libraries, fine robes and front seats at the big social events of the town.
Then here comes Jesus - a Man who touches lepers, preaches in houses and on seashores, and takes children into His lap. The Pharisees couldn't comprehend One who would soil His hands in such a way.
The write Morgan says: “I am constrained to say that I believe at this very hour one of the secrets of arrest, and one of the reasons for the condition of things in the Christian Church that is troubling us in many ways, is the aloofness of the Christian Church from sinning men and women. We still build our sanctuaries, and set up our standards, and institute our arrangements, and say to the sinning ones: if you will come to us, we will help you!”
I recall working under a pastor years ago, who, when I was discussing an outreach, shut down the whole discussion by saying, "If they want to hear the Bible, they know where we are."
Small wonder why our church couldnt clear 100 in attendance in a town of almost 40,000.
Yet in later years, I was under a pastor whose fervor for reaching out affected our whole church. Everyone was invited and nurturing the townfolk. They streamed in: kids coming in from the Projects; single moms who were trying to make it from paycheck to paycheck; lonely men and women who just wanted friends; desperate people who needed the Gospel. They knew they were "sick" and needed the Physician, just as we staff members knew our "sickness" as well. It was an amazing time of seeing people coming to Christ and growing in grace.
