Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance

 

 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting.  Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to the, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."

 

- Mark 2:13-22 

 

Yesterday we read that again Jesus entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

 

 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."   Levi is also known as Matthew, the author of the Gospel that bears his name.  My study Bible explains that Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  Their collaboration with the Roman occupiers, their fraud, and their corruption caused other Jews to hate them and to consider them unclean (Matthew 11:19).  That Jesus would dine with tax collectors and also accept one of them as a disciple ("Follow Me") is offensive to the scribes and Pharisees.  But Jesus' defense is simple:  He goes where the need of the physician is the greatest.  He also states His mission:  that He has not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.  In Matthew's reporting of this event, Jesus includes a quotation from Hosea 6:6, saying "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" (see Matthew 9:9-13).  

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting.  Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to the, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."  My study Bible explains that the Jews typically fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Additionally,  public fasts were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3, Ezra 8:21, Esther 4:16, Joel 2:15), especially on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19).  But by contrast, the day of the Messiah was seen as a wedding feast -- a time of joy and gladness.  Here, Jesus is proclaiming that this day is present, and He Himself is the Messiah/Bridegroom.  My study Bible adds that for Christians, fasting is transformed from something gloomy to something desirable, a "bright sadness," for by fasting at certain times and with particular intentions, we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast.  

"No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."  My study Bible says that the old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, seen in this viewpoint as imperfect and temporary; while the new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  In this metaphor, the new wine is the Holy Spirit who dwells within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.  

It's exciting, in some sense, to read of Jesus speaking of new wineskins and new wine, to think about what it means to be a renewed people, as my study Bible describes those who come to repentance through Christ's forgiveness and the grace of the Holy Spirit.  But we remind ourselves that over 2,000 years later, we are still learning about this process.  We still find ourselves immersed in it, have questions about it, and question ourselves about our participation in it.  What does it mean to be a  new people, to need new wineskins?  What does it mean to be a sinner called to repentance?  Or, even more essentially, what does it feel like to have need of the Physician, or to know that Physician's hand and guidance at work in us to rehabilitate us, to turn us into that new wine that needs new wineskins?  I feel that this message never gets old, as the action of turning us into that new wine never stops.  On this path of healing, we are always uncovering new things to be undone in the grace of God, something else of the old patterns and habits we seemed to develop in life that needs re-examination according to the instructions of the Physician and the healing and redeeming hand of grace at work in us.  The old assumptions and certainties we once believed tend to come back to us for presentation to our Physician in prayer, for the work of the Holy Spirit transforming us.  Therefore what happens is quite truly what Jesus describes in His metaphor of the wineskins:  we need to keep expanding, and we need some sort of container that allows for that.  It's quite interesting to think about the enzymatic work of the fermentation process for wine:  it's like the leaven Jesus uses to describe the process of the Holy Spirit in His parable of the leaven found at Matthew 13:33:  "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."  This action merely begins with our baptism; it doesn't end there.  The time of Lent is a period in which we are meant to renew our baptism and really focus in on where God wants us to be, the ways we are called to some form of repentance, to be deeper in prayer and take time to make room for God's work in us.  As we prepare to commemorate Christ's Resurrection, and therefore look with renewed brightness upon the prospect of the Wedding Feast and the coming of the Bridegroom in the fullness of His proclaimed Kingdom, we focus in on and renew what was vowed in our baptism, seeking to refrain from extraneous distractions to enable the expansive work of the Holy Spirit made possible through the Physician's work.  What do we need to change?  Are we into habits that tarnish the soul or drag us into places that darken our lives?  Do we need to more fully drink of the living water Christ brings to us, or are we so used to muddy waters that we no longer thirst for that which cleanses and heals?  Let us consider Christ as Physician, for it's when we no longer understand that we need Him that we're in the most danger of overlooking our true state and what needs to be healed and cleansed in us -- to make room for that explosive growth that we can't predict, and which only comes from God.