“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.’” (Mark 2:17) Jesus’ response to “this” is from an inquiry from the scribes and the Pharisees to His disciples asking why He is eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. The scribes and Pharisees fancied themselves as the righteous ones and looked down upon those that were not. They laid claim to this righteousness by their self-professed adherence to keeping the law of Moses. Had they known their Scriptures, they would have recognized that righteousness before God was not available by their deeds. Psalm 143:2b states, “For in Your [God’s] sight no one living is righteous.” Their righteousness was self-imposed based on how they wanted to be perceived by the people. They did not know, or did not believe, that their condition before God was exactly the same as everyone else.
Throughout the four gospels, the word “heal” or some variant of it is used 86 times in the New International Version of the Bible. One of the great testimonies to Jesus’ rightful claim as God was His ability to heal every single person who requested help. Before they requested help, though, they first had to know they needed help, right? If you’ve got a fever, chills, and body aches, you know you need to see a doctor about prescribing a cure. Pretty basic – right?
It is interesting that Jesus uses the concept of physical well-being as a metaphor to what kind of physician He really was. Consider earlier in Mark’s gospel when a paralytic is lowered down by his friends hoping he would be healed by the Lord. What is Jesus’ first response to this request for physical healing? “Son, your sins are forgiven.” While we don’t know exactly what this man must have been thinking at this very moment, but it’s a pretty safe bet forgiveness of sin was not at the top of his list. It should have been. And it should be at the top of our list.
The Bible tells us the wages of sin is death, and it also tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, we must conclude that we are all terminally ill as a result of our sins. Psalm 53:3 confirms this when it says, “there is no one who does good, not even one.” If you accept that you have an illness and that illness is sin, then you have arrived at a place where you know you need help (just like when you know you’re physically in need of help).
In the second half of Mark 2:17, Jesus says, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” The Greek word for “call” is “kaleo” which means “to invite; to be called by name suggesting a vocation or destination”. So what is Jesus calling all of us sinners to? Healing – a different and far better kind of healing. In the Old Testament, atonement (forgiveness) of sin came from the shedding of blood from the sacrifice of animals as a substitution for forgiveness of human sin. Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” This atonement, though, was temporary, and it had to be repeated each time someone sinned.
God loves you and wants to heal you. His diagnosis for you is that you are a sinner, but He doesn’t stop there. He also provides the cure – His Son, Jesus Christ. Your belief in the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross as a permanent substitutional sacrifice for your sins brings “atonement for your soul”. The healing doesn’t stop there either. Jesus’ resurrection proved His sacrifice was acceptable to His Father, and He opened the door to a new life that will ultimately place you in God’s presence for eternity. Did you know this is available to you now? Romans 6:8 tells us, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” Jesus is calling all sinners to be healed (He will do the healing) and live with Him now and forever. What is your response to the question Jesus asked the crippled man at the Bethesda pools, “Do you want to be made well”? The Doctor is “in”.