In Need of the Physician

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32)

A few months ago I made a doctor's appointment. My knee had been bothering me for several days and I couldn't even straighten it out completely. Just two days before my scheduled appointment my knee suddenly stopped hurting. I decided to keep the appointment anyway. The doctor examined my knee carefully and pronounced his diagnosis. "You're getting old." I wanted to say, "I paid you $25 to tell me I'm old? I've got a mirror that tells me that for free." I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. After all, my knee was well and Jesus did say, "Those who are well have no need of a physician."

What Jesus meant, however, was that people who have already repented of their sin and received God's grace and healing are not those desperately in need of Jesus as their Savior. Rather, it is those who are trapped in sin and spiritually dead who need to be rescued by the Savior.

Because Jesus knew this, He frequently spent time with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other notorious sinners. And He was roundly condemned by the "righteous" folks for doing so. Therefore, when questioned Jesus reminded these religious people of why He associated with such "low life."

What struck me as I read this passage was how much like the Pharisees and teachers of the Law many of us Christians are today. We don't want to associate with notorious sinners, and we will gladly condemn other Christians who are willing to do so.

We have forgotten Jesus' words about the sick needing a physician, and we have failed to live up to His characterization of the church He died and rose to create. Jesus told His disciples, "On this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prove stronger than it." (Matthew 16:18). Notorious sinners are literally trapped behind the gates of hell. If we are not willing to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them, they will never be set free. Only God's grace in Jesus can ever free them from the chains of sin and death that have completely overwhelmed their lives.

So let's remember what Jesus said. People who have already been healed of their sin by God's grace in Jesus are not the ones most desperately in need of a physician. Those who are sick unto death need to be healed by the forgiveness that Christ purchased for them by His death on the cross. Let's use His cross like a battering ram to break down the gates of hell and set them free! Let's be the caring Physician's assistants who bring healing grace to those who have been made sick by sin.