«　WEEK 2　DAY 2　»

　　Matt. 9:10-11 And as He was reclining at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and reclined together with Jesus and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, Why does your Teacher eat with the tax collectors and sinners?

　　The Lord took the opportunity given Him by the Pharisees’ question to give a very sweet revelation of Himself as the Physician …”Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill” [Matt. 9:12]. The Lord was telling the Pharisees that these tax collectors and sinners were patients, sick ones, and that to them the Lord was not a Judge but a Physician, a Healer…A judge’s judgment is according to righteousness, whereas a physician’s healing is according to mercy and grace. Those whom He made people of His heavenly kingdom were lepers (8:2-4), paralytics (vv. 5-13; 9:2-8), the fever-ridden (8:14-15), the demon-possessed (vv. 16,28-32), those ill with all kinds of diseases (v. 16), despised tax collectors, and sinners (9:9-11). Had He visited these pitiful people as a Judge, all would have been condemned and rejected, and none would have been qualified, selected, and called to be the people of His heavenly kingdom. However, He came to minister as a Physician, to heal, recover, enliven, and save them so that they might be reconstituted to be His new and heavenly citizens, with whom He could establish His heavenly kingdom on this corrupted earth…The self-righteous Pharisees did not realize that they needed Him as a Physician. They considered themselves strong; hence, blinded by their own self-righteousness, they did not know that they were ill. (Life study of Matthew, pp. 311-312)

　　The self-righteous Pharisees criticized the Lord Jesus and condemned all those unclean people. But the Lord seemed to say, “These people are not unclean; they are sick. I have not come as a Judge to condemn them but as a

　　Physician, as their dear, lovely, intimate Healer.”…The Lord Jesus was…surely indicating that the Pharisees, who thought that they were righteous, were actually just as sick as the others were.

　　The Lord Jesus gave…a further word in Matthew 9:13: “Go and learn what this means, ’‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” The self-righteous Pharisees were confident that they knew all things concerning God. In order to humble them, the Lord told them to learn more…Self-righteous men do not like to receive mercy or grace from God; they prefer to give something to God. This is contrary to God’s way in His economy. Just as God desires to show mercy to pitiful sinners, so He wants us to show mercy in love to others (Micah 6:6-8; Mark 12:33).

　　There is none righteous, not even one (Rom. 3:10). All the “righteous” are self-righteous, as were the Pharisees (Luke 18:9). The kingly Savior did not come to call these, but sinners. The Pharisees were proud of their knowledge of the Scriptures, and they thought that they knew the Bible very well. But here the Lord Jesus told them to go and learn something, to learn the meaning of the word “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” The Lord seemed to be telling the Pharisees, “You Pharisees are self-righteous, and you condemn these people without mercy. But God desires mercy. Now is the time for Me to exercise God’s mercy upon these pitiful people by being a Physician to them. I am not here as a Judge. I am here as a lovely Physician taking care of their problems, and now I am healing them.”

　　Blessed are those who do not think that they are righteous but who recognize that they are sinful. The reason for this is that the Lord did not come to call the righteous; He came to call the sinners. The Lord could say to the self- righteous ones, “If you consider yourselves righteous, you are not suitable for My coming, because My coming is for the sinners. Do not consider yourselves to be righteous. Rather, you must realize how sinful you are. If you consider yourselves as sinners, then you are ready for My coming.” (Life study of Matthew, pp. 312-313)

　　Further Reading: Life study of Matthew, msg. 27