Sundays at 10:30am

 

Menu

Jesus Came to Call Sinners to Repentance

Devotional Banner2015

Jesus came to call sinners to repentance.

After this [Jesus] went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed Him. And Levi made Him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “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 5:27-32

While Levi’s immediate response of obedience is astounding, the emphasis of this passage is on Jesus’ response to those who would question why a member of Jesus’ inner circle was a tax collector, and why His dinner company was a bunch of notorious sinners. Jesus tells those Pharisees and scribes who were bothered by His actions that the healthy have no need of a physician, but the sick. He tells them that He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The irony of this is that the Pharisees saw not their need for healing, for repentance, or for Jesus.

If you are a Christian, take a moment and let Jesus’ statement offend you. As a Christian, you are admitting that you are sick, that you are the sinner who needs to be called to repentance. If you are unwilling to make that concession, then you are unwilling to come to Christ, just like the Pharisees. The Christian confession implicitly involves the awareness that we are not well, that we do not have it together, and that we must respond to the call to turn from our sins to the hope that is in Christ.

While Jesus’ response here reminds us of our need, it also reminds us of our mission. When I was in college, I remember being really bothered by a guy who lived in my dorm. He had a particularly foul mouth, and publically reveled in debauchery. One day, I shared with my roommate (who was a believer) my dislike for this particular guy. He graciously reminded me that, “as Christians, he’s the guy that we’re after.” My roommate’s response arrested me, and still does to this day, because it sounds a lot like Jesus. Jesus came because He was “after” the sinners, the sick who were in need of a physician.

What do you need to repent of today? Is it the attitude of the Pharisees here, who don’t see that their lot is with those sinners in need of repentance? Is it your failure to see your sickness? Is it the sheer fact that repentance is not a regular practice in your life – though that is precisely a reason why Jesus came? Or is it that you are not behind Jesus in His mission to seek and save the lost?