
Sermon Title: Eyes of a Doctor
Scripture: Mark 2:13-17 (NIV)
Contributed by Ellyn Schwaiger
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” —Mark 2:17
As we begin the sermon series, Mark: Gospel Encounters, rather than a chapter-by-chapter study of the book of Mark, we will be dropping into stories of Jesus’ teaching and practice of living out the Gospel of Grace.
We begin in Mark 2. Jesus is having a meal at the home of his newest disciple Levi, a tax collector, who has invited some friends to join Jesus and his disciples. For the God-fearing and righteous Jew, tax collector equals sinner. The friends of the tax collector are also considered sinners.
The Pharisees don’t understand Jesus’ behavior. “When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’” (2:16). Jewish law prescribed separation from sinful people, not inclusion. Jesus has come to inaugurate a new Kingdom perspective, and the Pharisees are working hard to catch up.
Jesus responds to the Pharisees’ question saying, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (2:17). It would be easy to believe that the “sinners” here who need the doctor are the tax collector and his friends. And so they do. On this day, however, the double meaning of Jesus’ response eludes the Pharisees. At the core of Jesus’ teaching is the challenge of the definitions of who are “the righteous” and who are “the sick.” Who is it that “needs the doctor”? These new definitions are at the center of the Gospel.
The Jews were divided into sects and the Pharisees were proud of their adherence to the law in all its particulars. The Pharisees’ role in Jewish culture was to be the interpreter and the defender of the Torah, indeed, the defenders of God against any who claimed a different law than the Law of Moses. They knew themselves to be righteous because of their obedience to the law and the many ways that their works proved that they were the “healthy” ones. They believed they were right, everyone else was wrong, and that was the end of the matter.
But Jesus introduces the law of grace. He sees the hearts of those who “hunger and thirst for [true] righteousness” (Mt 5:6). Instead of separating himself from the sick and the sinner, he enters their world, he shares their food, and he showers them with compassion and mercy.
The Pharisees’ narrow-mindedness blinded them to the needs of the people around them, and it blinded them to their own soul sickness and their own need for the doctor. This early Gospel Encounter is a confusing episode for the Pharisees. As Jesus continues his three-year demonstration of the new Kingdom come, the Pharisees will move from confusion to adversary, from committed adherents of the Torah to self-righteous and hard-hearted obstacles to the Messiah they have long been waiting for.
Consider –
╬ Self-righteousness is enticing because it feels good. It orders the world with certainty and places the self in a comfortable position relative to others. Self-righteousness avoids the discomfort of trying to understand the perspectives and experiences of others who may be very different. As individuals and as a church community, how could a desire for truth turn into self-righteousness? How might our stand for the good, true, and beautiful remain untarnished by self-righteousness?
╬ What are some laudable aspects of the teaching and practices of the Pharisees? Is there anything we can learn from them that has application in the modern American church? What dangers need to be avoided?
╬ Imagine Jesus reclining and enjoying a meal with Levi and his guests. How did Jesus engage with them? What did they discuss? How did they connect? Are there any lessons for us?
╬ Lord Jesus, thank you for all you have given us. Forgive us when we lack intellectual humility and live without love for others. Enable us by your Spirit to be known for having a palpable generosity of spirit that extends towards everyone, no matter how different from us they may seem. May we follow your leading every step of the way. In your name we pray. Amen.