“Jesus
answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have
not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
(Luke 5:32).
Jesus’
words quoted above describe the core of His mission. We would think that Jesus
uttered these words while preaching to multitudes of people in order to present
His mandate. But no, these words were spoken while Jesus attended a party…a
banquet (Luke 5:29).
What
was the occasion?
Well,
Jesus came to a tax collector’s booth and called the man to follow Him. Levi,
aka Matthew “…got
up, left everything and followed Him”
(Luke 5:28).
He
left his workplace right then and followed Jesus. Just like that!
No
second thoughts, it seems. No risk assessment of the situation. No
consideration of “Pros” and “Cons”. No notice of intention to terminate
employment…he simply followed Jesus.
He
wasn’t sorry…on the contrary, he invited his friends over for a party. We can
only imagine who his friends were:
-outcasts
– like himself – most likely because of their jobs;
-well
off compared with the rest of the people;
-not
exactly the “religious” type of people.
Hence
the religious leaders of the day labelled them as sinners and wouldn’t
associate with them in any way – and there was Jesus and His disciples having a
good time with a bunch of sinners.
That
celebration was the joyful manifestation of God’s kingdom…on earth as in heaven
“…there is rejoicing in the presence of
the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).
So Jesus tells them that that was actually His rightful place – among those whom He came to call to repentance into God’s kingdom.