Mark 2:16-17
And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
I just had my 18th MRI yesterday for my Transverse Myelitis. I would rather I did not need a physician but, sadly, I have several. Jesus spoke of something entirely different to the scribes and the Pharisees. He had just had his first run-in with them as recorded by Mark when he healed the paralytic who was lowered through the roof. Their beef with Jesus was that he forgave sins. Only God can do that. That should have been their first hint that Jesus was more than a mere man. Here, they had what to them amounted as evidence that he could not be God. He hung around with riff raff.
Jesus differentiated between the righteous and sinners. The Pharisees would definitely have put themselves in the righteous department so they would have no use for a physician or a Savior. In Mark 10, Jesus would declare that “No one is good but God alone.” This would sound eerily familiar to the Pharisees statement that only God can forgive sins. That should have taught the Pharisees two things. First, Jesus is God and has the power to forgive sins, making him our Savior. Second, we are all sinners and no one is righteous without having righteousness given to us by Jesus through his perfect sacrifice for our sins. The Pharisees and we need a physician…
There is a Doctor in the house.