“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
The religious leaders of His day were mystified and concerned that Jesus would share table fellowship with hardened sinners and traitors to God’s people. How could Jesus be holy and wise if He spent time with people so far from God???
Jesus makes clear that those people were His primary mission. Jesus came to reach those farthest from God to invite them into His Kingdom. Yes, Jesus preached to and taught those who thought they were spiritually mature and holy. However, He knew their pride and self-righteousness would always be an obstacle to their receiving God’s gift of grace. Blind to their problems, they saw no need for a solution. Therefore, Jesus concentrated His energy and attention on those farthest from God and most deeply aware of their guilt, sin, and shame.
Do you? As a follower of Jesus, are you more concerned with and devote more time and energy to those already in God’s Kingdom or those farthest from it? Jesus made His priorities clear throughout Scripture, yet most Christians today reverse those. We generally prefer investing our time, energy, and resources into those most like us and avoid engaging with those least like us. Yet they are who Jesus would invest in and who He’s calling each of us to invest in.
Consider how you invest your life for Jesus. Are you investing in those with little to no need of a physician or in those who are profoundly spiritually sick?