Article for September Publications:Christ the Doctor of our Souls

Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The 'them' that Jesus addressed in this remark were the Pharisees who had criticised him for “eating with sinners.” Jesus had accepted an invitation to dinner with a notorious sinner, and the Pharisees disapproved.

So here we have a group of people who think they are righteous, the religious Pharisees, a group of people partying who know they are regarded as unrighteous, and Jesus, who Christians believe is righteousness embodied. Righteousness means to have a right relationship with God and with others, that is to live in Christlike love of God and neighbour. The Pharisees regarded righteousness as keeping religious laws, but Jesus asks more of us than that, he asks that we love one another. Any attempt at righteousness is defeated at the outset by self-righteousness; if you think you are perfect and the problem is with other people, and your role in life is to point out the faults of others, then the way to righteousness is closed off. At least the 'sinners' in the story probably know they fall short, but it seems the Pharisees can not see their own failings. When Jesus says, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners,” the Pharisees would have thought this excluded them because they did not see themselves as sinners, that they had no need of the healing Jesus offered, and that left no possibility for personal reformation.

Those labelled sinners were hardly likely to change their ways because of the ostracisation and criticism from the Pharisees, the message was that they were fundamentally bad, but the example of Jesus, and his willingness to be in their company, held out a better way. Jesus sought to heal people from the disease of sin by bringing them into to the light, not casting them into the darkness. To be sure, Jesus said we need to turn from our destructive behaviour, but he applies that to the destructive behaviour of the those regarded as sinners and of those regarded as religious, and he offered all the forgiveness of God, not condemnation.

I think today Jesus would say to those who think they have no need of forgiveness, the standard is perfect love, and you fall short of that; and to those who regard themselves as lost sinners, Jesus would say, you are loved by God and there is a pathway to healing and redemption. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus shows us the way to healing and redemption because he is embodied righteousness, he is the Son of God who was born as God our brother. The Church should be a place full of religious people who recognise they fall short of the mark, but are striving to do better, and who offer a welcome to anyone else who wants to work towards righteousness. Church should be more a lot more like a hospital than an exclusive club for the self righteous, the Church should be a place were we receive the healing of Christ the Doctor of our Souls.

Rev Stephen Gamble