Content
Who is “the sick”? (Mk 2:13-17; Mt 9:9-13; Lk 5:27-32)
This passage is an irony to the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees.
(publicans (稅吏) and sinners)
“Levi the son of Alphaeus” (v14) is “Matthew” as recorded by the author of the Book of Matthew himself (Mt 9:9). He was “sitting at the receipt of custom”. (v14) Jesus called him, “Follow me.” (v14) Then “he left all (撇下所有的), rose up, and followed him.” (Lk 5:28)
Mark 2:15 tells us that Jesus “sat at meat in his (Levi’s) house.” Luke 5:29 tells us the reason behind it: “And Levi made him a great feast in his own house; and there was a great company of publicans (稅吏) and of others that sat down with them.” “Publicans” in NRSV is translated as “tax collectors”. Since Matthew is a tax collector (Luke 5:27), it is probable that he has invited his colleagues to a feast that he holds for Jesus. This is certainly a powerful testimony if he professes his faith and determination to quit his profession and follow Jesus. Mark 2:15 continued, “many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples.” Who are the “sinners”? Since the scribes and Pharisees complained to the disciples that their Master ate and drank with publicans and sinners (v16), it is believed that they are both despised in the contemporary society.
Why are the tax collectors despised? They worked for the Roman government and collected money from their own people for submission to the Romans. Some of the Roman emperors would levy heavy tax on the people of their colonies. Besides, some unscrupulous tax collectors even defrauded tax money into their own pockets, leaving a poor impression with the people. A striking example would be Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, or “the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.” (Lk 19:2) He met Jesus and believed in him. Jesus suggested staying at his house overnight, and he was overjoyed by surprise. Then Luke 19:7 said, “And when they (the crowd who followed Jesus on the way) saw it, they all murmured, saying, ‘That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.’ ” The Jews were very hostile to this chief tax collector. How did Zacchaeus respond to Jesus? He made a very powerful testimony before the public, as he promised Jesus, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” (Lk 19:8) As such, the corrupt tax collectors are despised by the Jewish people.
But how about the “sinners”? Who are they? Probably, they are among those who are morally corrupted in the society, such as the prostitutes, besides the tax collectors. In Luke 7:36-47, a Pharisee treated Jesus a meal in his house, which is very rare. “And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping.” It turned out that she “kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.” The Pharisee, whose name was Simon, “spake within himself, saying, ‘This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.’ ” Jesus then told Simon of a parable about a creditor with two debtors. He concluded by saying, “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” This woman who was full of guilty feeling is believed to be a prostitute disdained by the public. Back to the Matthew’s guest table, why would the sinners sit and eat together with the tax collectors? Were they also invited by Matthew as his guests? There is no hint for that. But this is not the key point anyway. The key point is that they are equally despised in the society.
(the scribes and the Pharisees)
1. arrogant
In Matt 8:5-13, a Gentile centurion came to Jesus in Capernaum and entreated him to cure his servant lying at home “sick of the palsy”. This incident indicates a sharp contrast between the centurion and the scribes/Pharisees. First of all, the scribes and the Pharisees are religious heads whereas the centurion possesses military status and authority. In response to the centurion’s request, Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion replied at once, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” He further explained, “For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.” The centurion believed not only in Jesus’ power of healing but also in his “authority” of healing--that he was able to cure his servant without being present at the scene but plainly by his word. No wonder Jesus marveled at his great faith in him and said to the people around, “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”
In any event, now we shall compare the attitude of the centurion with the scribes and Pharisees. While they both respect Jesus as a reputed rabbi, they see their status differently relative to that of Jesus. The centurion feels that he is not qualified to have Jesus come to his home, as revealed in Matt 8:8, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.” On the other hand, the scribes and the Pharisees see themselves sharing equal religious status with Jesus. When Jesus broke the Jewish tradition and sat together with the tax collectors and the sinners, they felt so ill at ease and the Jewish norm told them that Jesus was degrading his religious status, making them feel ashamed too. That’s why the scribes and Pharisees reacted so strongly to Jesus’ act. When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, the disciples also had a very uneasy feeling. I believe that the scribes and the Pharisees would feel disgraced if they were there. The centurion’s humbleness was in sharp contrast with the arrogance of the scribes and Pharisees.
2. contempt the sinners
Jesus said, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (v17) When Jesus said that only the sick rather than the whole (or healthy) needs physician, he is referring the sick to the sinners and the healthy to the righteous. Jesus does not care about his own status or dignity; rather, he cares more about the spiritual need of the sinners. The scribes and the Pharisees do not care about this at all. The centurion, on the other hand, cares very much about the sickness of his home servant, “Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.” (Mt 8:6) Apparently, the centurion has full compassion with the lower class while the scribes and Pharisees never care for them but even contempt all the “sinners” labeled by their moral standard. Out of compassion, Jesus was very much willing to go and heal the centurion’s servant, no matter how busy he was. Notice that in Jesus’ dialogue with the scribes and Pharisees (v17), Matt 9:13 added Jesus’ word, “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.” Jesus was saying that the scribes and Pharisees had no mercy at all.
(Who is the sick?)
Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick.” (v17) He is actually implying that the scribes and the Pharisees always boast of their own righteousness and do not sense the spiritual need to have Jesus save their souls from sin. They are indeed the “sick” and their sickness is actually more serious than that of the “sinners”. In Luke 16:15, Jesus reproved them, “Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” Jesus “came not to call the righteous” (v17), meaning that he would not respond to those who are self-righteous. That’s why he doesn’t like to be with them. Instead, he likes to stay with the sinners who feel guilty for their sins.
(Who is the blind?)
In Chapter 9 of John, Jesus healed a man “blind from his birth”. Those who recognized the blind man were shocked to see him recover his sight and asked him, “How were thine eyes opened?” He answered them, “A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash,’ and I went and washed, and I received sight.” Later, they brought the man to the Pharisees, who interrogated him how he received his sight. He repeated his words to them. The Pharisees commented, “ ‘this man (Jesus) is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day.’ Others said, ‘How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?’ ” (John 9:16) See, Jesus was also regarded as a sinner! The reason was that he healed the blind man on the Sabbath and broke the 4th Commandment. The Pharisees were not interested in the healing power of Jesus at all because they lacked compassion on the blind man. They were only interested in challenging his religious code of conduct. Later, Jesus met the blind man again, who was not aware that he was Jesus. Jesus then introduced himself as the Son of God, and the man believed in him and worshipped him. He commented, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” (John 9:39) Jesus’ comment here apparently sounded very ironic to the Pharisees, so obvious that some Pharisees smelled the irony and said, “Are we blind also?” Jesus concluded, “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin; but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” (John 9:40-41) The “sick” are the “blind” scribes and Pharisees who are self-righteous and sinful.
(Who is the sinner?)
The majority of the people on earth claim themselves “righteous” and refuse to confess their sins before God. They think they are spiritually “healthy” and do not need Jesus the spiritual doctor. However, God has said in Psalm 14:2-3, “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Except for the righteous Son of man, all of us are sinners and the “sick”. We all need the salvation of Jesus. But all who insist that they are righteous before Jesus Christ can never delete the label “sinners”, because Jesus says “I came not to call the righteous” (v17). Only those who believe in him can be counted as righteous by the grace of God.
If Zacchaeus who welcomed Jesus to stay at his home was a “sinner”, if the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with the ointment was a “sinner”, if the tax collectors and the prostitutes who sat and ate with Jesus were all “sinners”, then the scribes and Pharisees who made wrong accusations against Jesus before the Jewish council and Pilate were “great sinners”. The scribes and Pharisees who stirred up the people to nail the righteous Jesus on the cross were indeed “the greatest sinners”!