to the sick

And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."

Matthew 9:11-12

Jesus came to the sick. It was for sinners that He lived and died. Even self-righteous sinners can benefit from His sacrifice. That's why I can write this because I am a sinner met by Jesus and saved by Him.

Why is it that as Christians we don't often live and love like our Teacher did? He upset the religious elitists with His associations with sinners. He ate with sinners. He engaged at their level... at their dinners, in their homes. And they flocked to hear Him and be with Him.

Christians ought to be about this world like Jesus, befriending the sick and the sinful. Churches aren't expensive health clubs, they are to be accessible clinics for the sick and the dying to know the gospel. We have lost the winsomeness of Jesus in our smug self-righteousness. We fail to mobilize disciples as doctors who have been tasked with making house calls.

Such repentance starts with me. Although I do have unsaved friends and neighbors, I don't make them my dinner companions like Jesus did. That is where I need to be more like my Master.