Who Do You Call?
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.” Mark 2:17
To Call – Jesus came to call sinners. Do you agree? Do your actions demonstrate that you would rather spend your time with those who are in need of healing than with those who are “righteous?” It’s an important question. Today we find that most comfortable Christians would rather assign the work of “dirty” evangelism to the paid professionals. Why take the time to go to the broken-hearted, the sick, the poor and the imprisoned? We can just pay someone else to do that work for us. Why sweat in the ripe fields when we can just send a missionary? Why travel to countries where there is disease, corruption, abuse and danger when we can just drop an offering in the plate and watch the video?
Jesus said that he did not come to call the righteous. The Greek verb is kaleo. It doesn’t take a scholar to understand what Jesus says. His message is only valid for those who are sick. The ones who believe they are well don’t need a doctor. But the interesting implication is that if we are following in Jesus’ footsteps, we should also be calling those who are sick. That does not mean that we stand a safe distance apart and use a megaphone. That means that we must get dirty. We must stand on the street corner with the prostitutes, sit in the hospital with the dying, hang out with the unemployed, eat at the table with the homeless and spend our time with the downtrodden and hopeless. Spiritual surgery is not done at a distance. If you’re going to be a doctor, you will get blood on your hands.
Jesus came for the sick. How many of those are part of your circle of friends? How many have you embraced? In our world, we are anxious to retreat to the safe, clean, comfortable surroundings. We can’t understand how Mother Teresa could put her arms around a leper on a back street of Calcutta. We would need gloves and a mask. Our fear says that God is not sovereign in our lives. We have to take care of ourselves.
Don’t you dare spiritualize all of this! Jesus didn’t spend his time with the “spiritually” sick and avoid all the physical results of spiritual illness. He went where people hurt. He knew that the heart is most open when the body is most wounded. Pain is the prerequisite to profession of faith. If you aren’t with those in pain, you might as well register as a Pharisee.
Do you really want to see the ones Jesus came to rescue? Do you really want to know them? Are you willing to be a friend in need? If you look closely, you will find them in every walk of life, in offices and gutters, in gated communities and homeless shelters. But, you have to go where they are if you want to call them. There are no telephones in heaven.
