Not The Righteous, But Sinners

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

Luke 5:32

Christ was very clear about His mission. His clarity was comforting to some and disturbing to others. Christ uttered the words which form our text for today, in response to a complaint by the Scribes and the Pharisees who said, ‘Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Christ prefaces our text with, ‘those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.’ Christ uses the analogy of the physician and the sick to pave the way for His mission statement, ‘I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.’ Christ made this statement with the obvious intention to challenge the Scribes and Pharisees. They were the righteous, or more exactly, the self-righteous, whom He did ‘not come to call.’ Robed in their own self-righteousness, they despised both Him and the sinners to whom they referred. Christ took them on without apology. Herein we rejoice in the Heroic Christ. He seeks out the lowly, the bereft, the failures, and the misfits. These were and are the common people who hear Him gladly. The self-righteous may carp and criticize, but the broken, helpless sinners still flock to Him when He calls. The Great Hope of humanity is not religion, but Christ. The more religionists assert religious morality as the answer, the more Christ shines as the True Answer. He came to call us poor and helpless folk to repentance. He will heal all that is broken, and make up all that is lacking.

Our most Gracious and Loving Savior,
we praise You that You condescend to those of us who are of low estate.
We rejoice that Your Righteousness, imputed unto us,
is all we need to have peace with God.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning