On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the
sick. But go
and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come
to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13)
Before we can discuss what Jesus
meant, we need to discuss what Jesus didn’t mean. He didn’t mean that sinners
are cool and that self-proclaimed righteous people are evil. Healthy people don’t need a
doctor. The sick do. His hanging with the sinners wasn’t in approval or
acceptance of their behavior. It was to cure their sin-sickness. Some suggest
that if Jesus were to walk the earth today, He’d hang out in bars with the LGBT
community and prostitutes, and, I daresay He might do just that. But here’s the
problem with that.
In saying that in the context of this verse, we’re saying
that Jesus would see the LGBT community and prostitutes as sinners, as the sick
who are in need of a doctor. Given that the LGBT community and “hoes” are not
considered sinners by those who claim Jesus would hang with them, and that “those
self-righteous religious folk” are considered the sinners, it seems to me that –
if this passage is applied – Jesus might well choose to hang out in churches
after all, or, he might hang with pedophiles.[1]
Now, let us turn to what Jesus
did say. What was His reason for coming according to this passage? To call sinners.
To call them what? To call them to what? His comments on the subject end there.
In the next verse, John’s disciples ask him an unrelated question. So if there
is any answer to be found, we must return to what He said before saying He came
to call sinners. He didn't come to make the poor rich. He didn't come to make the socially disenfranchised popular. He calls them as a doctor calls on the sick: to heal, to cure,
and to guide into a healthy life and to sternly warn those who think they are healthy (but are not) that they are not healthy.
[1] I feel the need to point
out here that I chose the various groups with whom Jesus might or might not
hang based on what I see in Social Media. There is a huge push in society for the
LGBT community to be seen as normal, good, moral, healthy (or, they would be if
we’d stop making them feel bad,), etc., while pedophiles and religious folks are
seen as wicked, evil, and sick. If there’s nothing wrong with LGBT, Jesus wouldn’t
need to hang with them. My mentioning of them is not an attack against them, it
is an attack on the faulty argument that Jesus would hang with them while at
the same time claiming that they aren’t in need of a doctor. Pedophiles and
religious folks, on the other hand, are proclaimed to be sick, which means
Jesus would spend time with them. You can’t have it both ways. The healthy don’t
need a doctor.
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