The Great and Merciful Physician

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  Matt.9:12-13

The Iesous was singularly focused upon the primary needs of persons.  It is extraordinary that he should have been sharply criticized for his ultimate concern by those who had no interest in his love of persons and their intrinsic afflictions.  Ministry is never performed within a vacuum.  The Iesous knew that the words of his critics contained an inherent blindness.  That is, their words revealed their character to him, and he knew that they spoke from a position of arrogance.

Arrogance is a spiritual disease.  It destroys the perception of an individual.  It cuts off the ability of an individual to see a situation with accurate perception.  Arrogance skews cognitive awareness and replaces it with fragmented and flawed thinking. The Iesous incurred the criticism of the Pharisees because he had met a tax collector named Matthew and had gone to his home for a meal.  The Pharisees witnessed this event and confronted the disciples of the Iesous about the unorthodox and irreligious nature of their master's actions.

It is interesting that the Pharisees confronted the disciples and not the Iesou.  This reveals the insidious nature of their hostility.  "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  Such persons represented the unacceptable classes.  So why would the Teacher of the disciples risk social disapproval by being in the presence of and eating with those who represented the 'worse' members of society?

He too will be seen in a different light.  Their smouldering hostility can be whipped into a bright flame because of this event.  The Iesous will be blamed for their attitude toward him because he stepped outside of the accepted norm and into the realm of sinners and tax collectors.

They did not want to know why he took this decisive action.  They seized upon this event as a marvelous opportunity to critisize him.  They were opportunistic and wished only to see the most compassionate actions in the worse manner.  The Iesous went where they would never go.  Their strict religious statues were designed to regulate their behavior and actions in all circumstances.  They observed the letter of the law, but knew nothing of the spirit of the law.  This was the flaw in their system of beliefs.

The Iesous seized upon the fundamental flaw in their thinking and he confronted them in a direct manner.   Their cognitive distortion led to words of hurt and insensitivity.  He wanted them to now that he was there to minister the love of God to persons in crisis.  Persons in crisis flocked to the Iesous because they felt safe with him.  They knew of  their inner conflicts and pain, and they also knew that those who could help them would not help them so they were suspicious of the religious leaders.  Their religious leaders rejected the needy ones by culturally biased beliefs-sounds familiar.

Think of a hurting one who goes for 'help' to a culturally-sanctioned helper.  Such a person would naturally be suspicions of those within the established priesthood of helpers.  If one were to go to such ones for help he or she would be viewed by the priest through unclean doors of perception.  The needy would be put through the lens of established beliefs and diagnosed with the most extreme labels possible.

The Ieosus did no such thing.  He legitimately recognized the source of human behavior.  He was relentlessly honest with people about their condition, as a physician is called to be, and yet he engaged them with palpable compassion and mercy.  The Pharisees were locked into inflexible narcissism, and the Iesuos knew it.

Iesous came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.  That is, he came for you and me.  I remember when my soul suffered the 'sickness unto death' and the Iesous rescued me.  Do you need him to rescue you today?

Blessings to you.

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