And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus has just called Levi, a tax collector. Now He sits at a meal with a house full of people the religious leaders had written off. When the scribes object, He answers with a picture from the sickroom. He also states why He came at all. Both halves of His reply cut against the objectors, not the guests.
The Charge Made Sideways
The scribes did not put their complaint to Jesus. They took it to His followers, and one commentator reads that as deliberate.
W. T. TurpinThese wretched scribes and self-righteous Pharisees are proud sticklers for the law. Now they try in an underhand way to undermine the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ with His disciples... They come to the disciples and say, "How is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?" That is an insinuation. It is designed to cast a slur on the authority of Christ with His own disciples. His answer is perfectly lovely.
Jesus took the question on Himself.
The Doctor Goes Where the Illness Is
The first half of His answer comes from ordinary life. It turns the accusation into nonsense.
The Bible TreasuryWhy was it that they failed to receive their Messiah? Because in their own estimation they did not need such a one as He. Why complain, then, that those who did feel their need of such a Saviour came to Him and were made welcome? What sort of physician is he who refuses to help anyone but the healthy and the strong?
The company at Levi's table did not prove Jesus was in the wrong place. It proved He knew His trade.
Numerical Bible NotesHis answer is conclusive: He is the Physician of souls. Will He surround Himself, then, with the healthy or the diseased? He does not come on a useless search for righteousness. The law had already proved that search useless. If He had come for that, He really would have been in the wrong place, just as they supposed. But He had made no such mistake. Were they making none?
Sick Without Knowing It
The picture does not require the sick to feel their sickness first.
William KellyGranted that they were sick — they were just the people for the physician. It is not even said that they were conscious of their sickness. God knows the need, and God seeks the needy.
Who "the Righteous" Actually Are
The verse does not admit that a class of righteous people exists. It describes people who think they belong to one.
The Bible TreasuryThe Lord then announced plainly that He had come to call not the righteous but sinners. By "the righteous" He meant those who were righteous in their own eyes. Otherwise there is none righteous, no, not one. Those who responded would be washed, sanctified, justified, and made heirs of the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). But those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous would certainly perish in their sins unless they repented.
Their problem was never that Jesus had nothing for them. It was that they would not take it.
Leslie M. GrantScribes and Pharisees needed Him as much as anyone else. But their pretended righteousness kept them from Him. They had no heart at all for repentance. They were like people with cancer who insist there is nothing wrong with them.
Called Out, Not Left As They Were
The word "call" carries weight. Jesus was not just keeping company with these people. He was calling them away from their old life.
Hamilton SmithThey insinuated that the Lord was associating with sinners. His reply is that He was "calling" sinners out of their things to follow Him. Grace to the sinner does not mean indifference to his sins.
Two Systems Meeting at One Table
Two different ways of dealing with people meet at this table. The verse marks the line between them.
J. N. DarbyHere it is grace that is working, and the work of Jesus stands in full contrast to the law. The law demanded human justice from man. Christ and the gospel announce divine grace, which reigns and reveals God's righteousness.
A Note on the Wording
Many older Bibles end the verse with "to repentance." Those words belong to Luke's account rather than Mark's. One writer warns against drawing a wrong conclusion from that.
William KellyIt is worth noticing something in the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark. The best authorities leave out "to repentance." How far from the truth it is to say that repentance is a Jewish thing! Luke, in keeping with the deep moral design of his Gospel, has these words.
Summary
- Diagnosis — The verse divides people into those who admit they are ill and those who do not. "The righteous" means righteous in their own eyes, since otherwise no one is righteous.
- Physician — Christ answers the charge by naming His own trade. A doctor who avoided the sick would be no doctor at all, so the table full of sinners proves He is in the right place.
- Call — He does not just sit with sinners. He calls them out of their old life to follow Him, and grace toward the sinner is never indifference to the sin.
- Contrast — The law demanded justice from man. Christ announces grace that reigns and reveals God's righteousness.
- Warning — Pretended health is the one illness this Physician cannot treat, because it refuses the appointment. Those who owned their need found a welcome; those who trusted themselves stayed away.