By David ReayTuesday 24 Apr 2018LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 2 minutes
Read Luke 5:27-32
27-28 After this he went out and saw a man named Levi at his work collecting taxes. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” And he did—walked away from everything and went with him.
29-30 Levi gave a large dinner at his home for Jesus. Everybody was there, tax men and other disreputable characters as guests at the dinner. The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to his disciples greatly offended. “What is he doing eating and drinking with crooks and ‘sinners’?”
31-32 Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.” (THE MESSAGE)
Most of us get to see our doctors from time to time, some more regularly than others. It can be time consuming and inconvenient. It can even be expensive. So we only make an appointment if we have a need. We only go to the doctor if something is wrong: we don’t bother about our doctor if all is well. Healthy people have better things to do than browse through ancient magazines in a busy surgery waiting room.
And a doctor would be wasting his or her time merely attending to healthy people. Just as a saviour would be wasting his time simply mixing with those who reckoned they didn’t need saving. Jesus got into hot water by associating with the less reputable members of society. His reply was that those were the very people who needed him most. As a ‘spiritual doctor’, he couldn’t avoid the spiritually sick.
Of course, we are all spiritually sick by nature: we need right relationship with God through forgiveness of our waywardness. Some recognise this, others do not. Tax collectors and assorted crooks flocked to Jesus because they knew they needed help. The self-righteous religious leaders rejected him because they figured they didn’t need what he was offering.
Jesus came to save all, but not all reckoned they needed saving. Then as now the hardest people to reach with the good news of Jesus are those who think they know it all and have it all. Then as now the only chance we have of being cured by Jesus is to recognise how sick we are. Then as now, help comes to the helpless.
Blessings
David Reay