To the Sinner not the Righteous
Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
We are continuing to investigate what it means to take Jesus to our world. Last week we looked at how the Gospel of Jesus Christ included even the most unlikely. This week we are going to look at how Jesus has great compassion and love for the sinner. Jesus did not come to save the righteous. If there are any truly righteous they don’t need Jesus’ gift of salvation. It is those who are stained with the evil of sin who need the touch of Jesus in their lives. This week we are going to investigate this truth that it is the sinner not the righteous who need the grace and love of Jesus.
