Calling All Sinners!

Luke 5:27-31 In the Gospel of Luke there are two seemingly unrelated situations joined together by an “after this”. The first is the healing of a paralytic who was lowered through the roof. The second was Jesus' calling of the disciple Matthew (Levi). The telling verses are Luke 5:31 & 32, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." He is not implying that sin is the cause of sickness, although it could be. What he is doing is talking about two parallel ideas. If you can grasp the one, that is, the healing of sickness, you have a chance of understanding the other. The first thing that Jesus said to the paralytic was, “friend, your sins are forgiven” The healing of the body is temporary. Even in the case of Lazarus who was raised from the dead, — he died again. In the healing of the disease of sin, that healing is eternal. Physical disease can only bring one to the grave; but sin unhealed will carry one to hell! The healing of the physical body is generally quite easy to see. The person was not able to walk, now he is. The individual was blind but now he can see. In the case of sin, the change is not necessarily so obvious, especially if the person was a morally upright person; but still lost in the disease of sin. The changes are ultimately spiritually discerned rather than seen with the naked eye. Both men were radically changed. In the case of the paralytic begging would be completely inappropriate. He probably had to find some sort of job. Matthew's sin healing also demanded a radical change in life style. He left everything and followed Jesus. Tax collecting, as practiced in that day, was no longer an option. Having our sin disease healed demands change in our life- style, habits and attitudes. There are many things that belong to the old life that after our "sin healing” are no longer appropriate.