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After Jesus calls the tax collector Levi (Matthew) to be his disciple, he goes to dine at Matthew’s house (Mark 2:14-15). The scribes of the Pharisees seize the opportunity to criticize Jesus for eating with immoral people:
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?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” — Mark 2:15-17 (see also Matt. 9:10-13 and Luke 5:29-32)
Why is Jesus the “doctor exception” when it comes to spending lots of time with people who would be a bad influence under normal circumstances?
The scribes saw Jesus as an unworthy teacher.
In Mark 2 the scribes first condemn Jesus for breaking a moral principle of godly wisdom. As Psalm 1 states, you do not sit with scoffers.
Second, this condemnation of Jesus is a rebuke and warning to the disciples. The scribes are saying to them that it is folly to follow Jesus as he is influenced by sinners.
Third, they shame Jesus as being an unworthy teacher. If a teacher of righteousness hangs with sinners, then he does not deserve the title.
Jesus’ target wasn’t moral reform but rather healing people from sin.
Yet, Christ’s first coming was not concerned with the body; he deals with that in the resurrection. Also, Jesus is not a moral philosopher to conduct therapy classes on the virtuous life. Godliness and moral reform may be fruits, but they are not Jesus’ target. Rather, he came as a doctor for sinners. He came to heal us from sin. Protestant Reformer John Calvin notes how the Pharisees were quick to judge the sinfulness of others while ignoring the same disease in themselves:
It is evident from Christ’s reply that the scribes erred in two ways: they did not take into account the office of Christ; and, while they spared their own vices, they proudly despised all others. This deserves our particular attention, for it is a disease which has been always very general. Hypocrites, being satisfied and intoxicated with a foolish confidence in their own righteousness, do not consider the purpose for which Christ was sent into the world, and do not acknowledge the depth of evils in which the human race is plunged, or the dreadful wrath and curse of God which lies on all, or the accumulated load of vices which weighs them down. (John Calvin, Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke — Volume 1; Matthew 9:9-13; Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32)
The scribes were quoting Scripture against Jesus.
To be honest, at least at one level, we have to agree with the scribes. The scribes are basically quoting Proverbs against Jesus (see Prov. 13:20). If your teenage daughter was hanging out with people taking illegal drugs, you would be saying the same thing. The scribes highlight a true and important principle of godly wisdom here.
In fact, Jesus himself agrees with them. Jesus, of course, knows what is going on between the scribes and his disciples, so he deals with them head on. And our Lord agrees with their wisdom, because he cites an exception. Doctors are not for the healthy but for the sick. This is a proverb that is widely found in both Jewish and Greek writers.
The doctor is the biggest exception to the wise practice of quarantine.
And it is an exception proverb. That is, normally you stay away from sick people. You don’t have to know the germ theory of disease to realize that illness is contagious. The healthy avoid the ill. Thus, the age-old therapy for the sick has been quarantine, isolation. Long before Covid-19, the ancients practiced social-distancing with the sick.
But where everyone is separated far off, one draws near—the doctor. Due to his expertise and special training, the doctor is the biggest exception to the wise practice of quarantine. The doctor has ability and technical tools to be near and not get sick.
To bend the knee as sinners is to receive freely the everlasting healing of Christ
Jesus confronts the scribes with the uniqueness of his person and office. They must realize that Jesus is the doctor exception to the general truth. Jesus claims the doctor exception and then clarifies what kind of doctor he is. I came not to call the righteous, but the sinner.
To concede that you are a good person is to wave Christ off—no doctor needed. But to bend the knee as sinners is to receive freely the everlasting healing of Christ: forgiveness, justification, and resurrection. Come to Jesus, the only doctor in life and in death, body and soul, for now and forever.
To dig deeper on this topic, check out “Should Christians Hang Out with Sinners Like Jesus Did?”
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