Healed from the Inside Out
There are many days during our lives when we need the bridegroom, when we need His presence, His compassion. When we do, then we need His mercy even more than our next breath. Jesus knew this would be so, and so He reveals this Truth to us in His Word.
“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.”
(The Gospel According to Mark 2: 17 NASB)
Jesus had just entered Capernaum, and prior to these words, large crowds had gathered to hear Jesus’ teaching and had witnessed Jesus healing the paralyzed man whose friends had brought him to the house where Jesus was located. Among the crowd were the Pharisees, who saw Jesus go home with a tax collector named Levi (Matthew).
There are so many times during our walk with the Lord when we sin, and when we do, then we need the Great Physician. Matthew invited Jesus to his home for a meal, inviting other tax collectors too, others who needed to hear Jesus teach. However, those who ‘thought’ they were righteous (the Pharisees and their scribes) could not believe what they saw.
“When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples,
(The Gospel According to Matthew 9: 11-13 NASB)
“Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”
But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’
for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The Bridegroom says come to the table.
The Bridegroom has plenty of seats for everyone.
The Bridegroom offers compassion, mercy, and grace for all who will receive.
When we ‘think’ we are walking in righteousness and when we ‘look’ at what we have accomplished, then we fall in our pridefulness. It is then, when we are sick, that we need the touch of the Great Physician. Oftentimes, the world looks and does not understand. There are times when we ‘think’ we are doing okay: We are saved; We are on-mission for the Lord; and We are at work in His church, but even then, the deceiver is on the move, seeking whomever he can entice to sin. It is in that instance, when we sin that we become sick and in need of the Great Healer, the Bridegroom.
“The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying,
(The Gospel According to Luke 5: 30-32 NASB)
“Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”
And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are will who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinner to repentance.”
When we walk with the Lord, then He will keep us on His path of righteousness.
When we think we are ‘all-good,’ then that’s when we can easily fall.
When we take our eyes off of the Lord and place them on ourselves, then we see what ‘WE’ have accomplished and forget that it is the LORD WHO ACCOMPLISHES HIS WILL and we (HIS bondservants) who are called to do HIS will, not ours.
May we remember how we are sin-soaked, even after we have been saved. Let us not ever forget where we live, breathe, and exist, for we are not home yet. We reside on earth, not in heaven, and while we are here, Satan desires nothing more than to tear us away from walking in the Father’s will. So, brothers and sisters-in-Christ, let us be on our guard, let us be alert, and let us daily be on our knees seeking the Lord’s mercy and grace. Many times, it is us (the redeemed) who need to recline at the Bridegroom’s table and feast on His food, His Daily Bread, and be healed from our sin.