Mark 2:14-17 — No Need of a Physician?

Gospel for Today = Mark 2:14-17

By Vittore Carpaccio - Web Gallery of Art: Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9770918

 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 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?” 
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Comments:

I read verse 17 and I couldn't help but think about one of the late Pastor Ron Mehl's classic statements, "Don't get so well that you don't need a physician." Certainly, his point was one of how we regard ourselves. We are not to esteem or trust ourselves, or our own religious efforts to please God to the place where we no longer think we need His constant help...which Christ so wondrously supplies. This builds upon the previous verses and thought from my previous post.

Photo by Obi Onyeador on Unsplash

We need to reckon ourselves to be sinners, who need Jesus' touch on our lives today! A sense of “arrival” is always detrimental to our devotional life and wreaks havoc on relational ministry. It is on the days that I don't take time to go to my “Great Physician” early, eagerly, and expectantly that I find that Jesus doesn't spend much time with me. He doesn't call to me in the course of the day like he does when I seek him, or at least I don't hear him doing so. I say all of that tongue-in-cheek because he always is near. The problem is that I choose to turn away is self-reliance, denying the many subtly manifested symptoms of my sin. 

Jesus is persistently and winsomely calling sinners to repentance--a relational return to the God who loves us--and until I acknowledge that I am among them then I am not getting my "mail" from God the way the I should, the way that he wants me to. He desires to share his goodness with us, but will we respond?

But what does [the righteousness based on faith] say? 

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:8-13)