I Came to Call Sinners

A paralyzed man’s friends broke open the roof and lowered him down before Jesus. Seeing the faith of those determined to save him, more than the sick man himself, Jesus declared his sins forgiven, and the Pharisees nearby took his words as blasphemy. He then called Levi the tax collector, who rose and followed at once, and who invited tax collectors and sinners into his home so that they might share a meal with Jesus.

As it is the sick who need a physician, so Jesus came to call not the righteous but sinners. Wedding guests do not fast while the bridegroom is with them; in the same way, with Jesus present, this is no time to keep up the outward forms of mourning but a time to feed on the Word. No one sews a patch of new cloth onto an old garment or pours new wine into old wineskins, and neither can the gospel be confined within the worn-out forms of legalism.

To forgive sins is to wrest his weapon from Satan, and that grace is given freely, whatever a person’s condition or circumstances. The church must be built not on laws and forms of human making but on the words of Jesus alone. Those who grasp his purpose in coming to call sinners will go on to proclaim the gospel boldly to the world.