Calling the Sinners
If you have been part of any church for long enough, you’ve seen all the messiness that comes with it. Gossip. Selfishness. Pride. Hypocrisy.
And if you’re like me, you ask yourself from time to time, “Why can’t people just… be better?”
After all, we are the church. We steward the message of truth. We are Christ’s ambassadors. Why is this so hard?
In this week’s reading, Jesus sheds light on the issue with one of the most concise statements of Christian doctrine recorded in Scripture: “I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17)
Jesus tees this up beautifully, as verses 13-16 recount: As He is being followed by the crowds, awestruck at the miracles He had performed, He stops at the tax office to call Matthew (also referred to as Levi) to follow Him.
Can you imagine what was going through everyone’s heads? Here, we have a Jewish crowd, following this man who has preached a message of hope and has healed many. They are eager to see what’s next on His agenda, or what new ideas they’re about to learn. And where does He take them? To the local tax collector. The modern emblem of their persecution.
As Jesus approached Matthew, they must have been ready for a scathing confrontation from their new leader. Instead, He invites the bad guy to join Him, and later has dinner with him and a bunch of his friends!
Naturally, the religious gatekeepers are confused and annoyed by this. They’re the ones who have worked so hard to uphold God’s law in the face of Roman opposition. Why has He chosen the delinquents of society to share His fellowship?
Because we are all delinquents.
Paul tells us in Romans 3:10, “There is no one righteous, not even one”.
Ever since Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, humanity has been plagued with a sin issue which no one can avoid and no one can fix.
Works cannot save us, as we are incapable of God’s standard of perfection. Even if we could somehow achieve perfect obedience to the law, it wouldn’t fix the spiritual condition of the heart.
The Pharisees were unmatched in their religiosity. Their discipline in keeping the law would make most Christians look like rebels. And yet, this is the very reason Jesus chose to dine with those at the opposite end of the pecking order.
This gesture showed the true heart of Jesus. First, we see that He’s on a mission to cure our spiritual sickness. His response to the scribes was a tongue-in-cheek way of saying, “If you’re already righteous, then you don’t need me”. He knew their hearts as well as He knew their works, and He used their logic to further expose the error.
Secondly, we see the boundlessness of His heart for mercy. By choosing fellowship with the tax collectors, He established that the invitation to salvation excludes no one. No person who has put their faith in Jesus can out-sin God’s grace.
How often do you fall into the mindset of the Pharisee, viewing yourself as more righteous than others? How often do you see your sin as that of a tax collector, thinking you’re too far gone for grace?
Jesus died for both. And that, friends, is the Gospel.
As the saying goes, the church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners. It is where we, the sick, come into the presence of our divine physician.
We are to confess our struggles to one another, while lifting each other up with the truth.
We are to forgive one another, as Jesus did for us.
We are to pray for one another in our joint battle with this illness, while reminding one another of the victory that has already been won.
~ Jared Grenfell and his wife Grace have have been active members of the LIFE Fellowship community for several years and lead a young adult LIFE Community. Jared has served in various roles on the LIFE Worship team including Music Director.