Not Always Right

Mark 2:17

17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

If you have ever been to a physician, you know that he or she will run tests and maybe even a physical to make sure you are doing well. Jesus was telling the Pharisees that he is the “Great Physician.” Unlike people who are not sick or righteous, Jesus was saying he came to heal the ones who know they are sinners.

Have you ever met somebody who thought they were always right no matter what? They would never accept anyone else’s opinion and always thought they had the right answer. The Pharisees always thought they were right. They were always trying to trap Jesus and plotted to kill him whenever Jesus would silence and rebuke them. Instead of the Pharisees turning from their sins, they thought they were justified to arrest Jesus and crucify him because they thought they were right.

The Pharisees thought they did the right thing and sent Jesus, a man who never sinned, to the cross. Remember this principle: Just because you think you are right doesn’t mean you are always right. We have to be careful to judge others because even though they might sin in the open, it doesn’t give us the right to cast judgment on them. Instead, our response should be how can I help this person? How can I show them the love of Jesus today? Maybe they haven’t been taught and shown how to live according to God’s commandments. 

That’s what Jesus was trying to get the Pharisees to see. You’ve heard the saying, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” You see, even tax collectors in Jesus’ day were made disciples and they turned their world upside down in their lifetime. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been and what you’ve done. As long as you can accept that you are a sinner saved by grace, Jesus will accept you and make you new.

Dear Jesus, thank you for loving sinners like me. Thank you that I don’t have to earn my way into Heaven, but it was only through the sacrifice you made on that cross for me and for the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen!