Once again, the scribes and Pharisees, who continued to dog the footsteps of our Lord, were there.  This time they grumbled not only among themselves, but aimed their criticisms at the Lord’s disciples, perhaps thinking to draw them away from Him.  “Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?” they demanded, showing that they were of that number of whom Isaiah prophesied, when he said, “Stand by thyself, for I am holier than thou.” 

Jesus’ answer is of great importance, and ought to clear up many of the noxious errors of the present time.  Oftentimes Jesus is presented as someone who went out partying with the sinners, excusing, endorsing, or ignoring all their misbehavior, acting as if he had no problem whatsoever with their evil lifestyles.  But nothing could be farther from the truth.  Jesus does not answer, “These people can go on in their stealing and fornication and idolatry as well as they please, and you had best judge not.”  No, what He shows is that it is not the proud, self-righteous religious man who obtains grace, but the one who recognizes he is exactly what the scribes and Pharisees complained about: a sinner.  These need a physician, not those who are whole.  Two men may both have a cancer; but the only one who will receive help is the one who goes to a physician for assistance.  This the publicans and sinners were wise enough to do; not because Jesus excused their sin, but because He, unlike their proud rulers, held forth the promise of grace and mercy.

Jesus came not to call the righteous, or those who imagined themselves to be so, but sinners to repentance.  He did not come to tell any man that he was okay in his own lifestyle, however perverse it might be.  No, he called every sinner, no matter how foul, to repentance, to contrition for sin, turning away from it to God.  This was, and ever must be, the message of the gospel.  We have nothing to offer the man who is righteous in his own eyes, like the Pharisee.  But to the sinner, even if he has lived his entire life in the lowest gutters of iniquity, we hold forth the message that Christ calls them to repentance, and that upon repentance they will be graciously received and healed by the great Physician.