³⁰ The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.” ~Luke 5:30-32

When I read the verses above as a teenager, I remember frowning and reading them again. Wait a minute, I thought. Why does He say this? Paul tells us we are ALL sinners, that NONE of us is righteous…and Jesus surely knew that. Right? So what’s He saying here?

It’s a valid question. Because we DO know that we are all sinners. Which means that He came to call us ALL to repentance. We ALL need His healing touch.

But not everyone will admit it. Not everyone will go to that Great Physician, even though they need it. Plenty of people, then and now, think of it as “us” (the righteous) versus “them” (the sinners). And what’s Jesus’ response to that? “Guess what–I came for them. So until you admit you’re one of ‘them,’ I guess you’re not at the table with Me.”

A few weeks ago, I conducted a little experiment on social media. I commented on a post condemning the Left, which used some really nasty names, asking if perhaps we’d make more strides if we didn’t villainize them. Well, after a number of comments over the course of a week, one appeared that had me gaping. In which a man condemned me to hell for trying to understand a different perspective. I made it clear I was not CONDONING certain behavior, simply trying to understand it so that I knew how to pray for people and how to love them like Christ loves them. And THAT was the thing he said would send me to hell. Trying to understand someone I don’t agree with. He accused me of “cavorting with evil.”

I immediately thought of that Scripture above, when the so-called “faithful” accused Christ of hanging out with sinners. 

Jesus is where the sinners are, friends. But they don’t stay sinners when they recognize their need for Him. Or rather, they become sinners saved by grace. Are our political “enemies” suddenly beyond His hand just because they haven’t accepted Him yet? Or because they understand things differently? Do we really think the answer is to condemn them all, along with anyone who tries to understand them?

Jesus certainly didn’t think so. When His disciples wanted to rain down fire and brimstone, He rebuked them. Most versions leave it at that, but some manuscripts add this: “You do not know of what kind of spirit you are; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy people’s lives, but to save them.”

As we progress through Holy Week, I think this is an important scripture to keep in mind. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, in His final days on earth, when this happened. His disciples have been with Him for three years already, and still they think this is the right action. To prove their power. To prove their might. To wipe from the earth a Samaritan town (so not among the “faithful”) who didn’t welcome Him.

But Jesus’ eyes were already on the cross. He knew His purpose. And it was not to destroy. It was to save.

That needs to be our purpose too. NOT to prove our power. NOT to use it to destroy our enemies.

To love them as Christ did, so that they may be saved.

Jesus didn’t come to die for those who thought they could get to heaven on their own, who have the right ideas or the right education or are members of the right political party or the right church. He came to die for sinners.

For those who, upon meeting Him, recognize their need for Him.
For those who don’t confuse strength with power.
For those willing to beat their chests and cry out, “Have mercy on me, a sinner!” instead of sneering at those who we perceive as unrighteous.

Tomorrow, we remember the day Christ gave His all, His very life, on the cross. Not for the righteous. For the sinners. For us–all of us. For them.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
Grant us peace.