Jesus came to call sinners to repentance (Luke 5b)

I have come to call sinners to repentance

Luke 5:12-32

Key Verse 32³¹ Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

It is not an easy matter for anyone to be blessed by God. There was a famine in the entire land of Israel. It was so severe that many starved. But God sent his servant Elijah to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.  She was blessed and survived through the famine. It was God’s selection among many to bless. Why did God choose this woman for his blessing? Why did he reject all but choose this woman? God has his own idea.  

Who is worthy to receive God’s blessing? If you want Jesus to bless you now, then why would he? This question is critical particularly when our lives are desperately in need. Jesus blessed many. How can you receive his blessing?   We have our own sets of ideas to get blessing from God. But often than not, our way of getting Jesus’ blessing is different from what Jesus wants us to have.

Soon after Jesus called Levi to be his disciple, Levi held a great banquet for Jesus. So Jesus went to his house with his disciples and was having a good time. But Pharisees and teachers of the Law raised a question, why does you teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? To the Pharisees and teachers of the law, these tax collectors and other sinners were not worthy to be friend with. Jesus should not bless such people at all. They were sinners and the ungodly. No godly men, particularly Jesus, should associate with such people. This is true. I, kind of, share their reasoning and thought. Actually I valued more men’s ability and goodness. Yet Jesus shared his life with these sinners with a great joy. So as we noted there was a remarkable difference between what Jesus thought to be worthy and what these teachers of the law thought to be worthy.

Jesus came to bless people. Today we will look at three people and explore how they met Jesus and why Jesus blessed each of them abundantly. What made them worthy of such blessing?

1.    Jesus had compassion on a leper.

There was a man whose body was covered with skin disease, most likely leprosy. Leprosy is an intractable disease. When one is just infected, there is no sign of illness or sickness. But as the disease progress, the person loses his senses and skin is covered with all kinds of nodules and pustules. Some parts, skins fall off and exposes it raw, denuded.  In the advance case, it is so ugly for any men to look at. When one is caught such disease, he is quarantined to a community where all lepers live.  They stay there until they die. Since they are cut off from the society and work effectively, they live lonely and very poor life. How is it like to live such a life with life long and ugly disease? In the OT, when such man approaches to other people, he has to shout, unclean! Unclean! So that no one may come close to the person.  They were not acceptable to present before God. Can anyone say that such life has any meaning or worthiness? So such person lives with worthlessness, hopelessness and uncleanness. To anyone’s eyes, what I mean is that, to himself as well as to the eyes of others, such life is full of suffering in worthless and meaningless.

Here, a leper heard of Jesus and he came to be convinced that Jesus could heal if he wanted to do so. But he was not sure if Jesus was willing to do so because there are so many out there who were much better than him in terms of human quality. There are many who were clean and smart and law abiding and righteous. They were worthy to receive Jesus’ blessing far before this man. Simply he was the least among all men to get attention of Jesus.  Jesus, the holy servant of God, has any room for him? So he said, from afar, if you are willing you can make me clean!

What was Jesus’ response? Jesus’ response was a very exceptional one. He came up close to this man and touched him with bare hand and said ‘I am willing’. He unambiguously expressed his full hearted compassion for and willingness to care for this man. To Jesus, this man is worthy to receive his attention and love more than many others. Though there were many others, Jesus showed all out his compassion and love on this man. He reached out his hand and touched this man whose skin was fully covered with disease. From open wounds, exudate was oozing out. But he touched it with his bare hand.  Suddenly his wounds were healed and he became clean. Was it a just sympathy for this hapless, hopeless and tragic condition of this man that caught Jesus’ attention or something else?

Jesus told him not to tell this to any one and go to show himself to the priest so that he might get approved of his healing. Jesus wanted him to be restored to a normal life. Yet this news spread and many crowds came to see him.

So everyone who heard of healing of a leper thought this way; if such ugly and worthless leper got the attention of Jesus, then I am more worthy or better than the leper! So all were so much encouraged to see Jesus. The result was remarkable; so many crowds of people came to him to hear and to be healed. Nevertheless, Jesus was not much happy with such attention! He went out to a solitary place and prayed all alone, seeking God’s will and purpose. Why? If Jesus valued such worthless man leper so much that he showed such compassion, then should he show more to these people who were much better than the leper?

2.    Jesus forgave the sins of a paralyzed man. 

There was a man paralyzed below his waist because he got injured on his back. So he needed a care from his family and his friends all the time. If there was no one to help him, he was simply helpless and sitting at one place, not doing anything. He lived useless life, idle away his time and mind, only taking away other’s time and energy.

The scripture does not say how he got injured his back and got paralyzed. But it is more than possible that his injury or his paralysis came about because of his ungodly act in the past. This was likely by the fact that Jesus considered the two things,his paralysis and his sin, into one.

Not only on this man, but also many mishaps and tragedies come to many through ungodly or sinful life. One of the good examples is drunk-driving; drunk-drivers killed many and the entire society was enraged by such irrational behavior. Also they themselves ended up with injuries.  If not, they will earn jail time and hefty cost of money.  

Who knows, even this man was injured while he was in act of committing sin. He was running away from his wife because he was caught in his adultery with another man’s wife. While running, he fell off a cliff and injured his back? It is a pure conjecture. But one thing is clear,  in this man, a sinful act brought this man a paralysis.

We all know that sin invariably brings unwanted or bad outcome. We suffer from it. Once I made a bad investment. It caused me a great loss and headache for over 5 years. My wife chastised me of this again and again, and I had to bear the blame time and time. But the loss was a symbol of my sin, a constant reminder for my ungodliness and faithlessness. It is a great pain to live day by day with such a thought of failure and sin. 

Until we suffer from our mistakes and sins, we seldom admit that we are wrong and ungodly and sinful. But the bad outcome forces us to suffer and force us to think about the wrongs that we committed.

For this man, it was a daily reminder—paralysis; the depth of pain and sorrow is far beyond that we can imagine. These thought went through his mind again and again, ‘ If I did not go out that night… if I did listen to my wife, or my friend, if I held my desire just for a moment.. this would not happen…’  All these boil down to one thing, ‘I am a sinner’ and ‘that sin bore its toll’, the paralysis. Whom can I blame but myself?

Sin and its outcome kill our spirit and destroy meaning and hope for life. Eventually sin leads us to death… ! But he came back to his senses and realized that sitting on his helpless does not get him any better. As he heard of Jesus, his hope sprang up and decided that he would did not sit in his hopelessness. He called his four of his friends and begged them to take him to Jesus. It is not easy to get all four friends together to help him out. Finally they all came together and carried him to where Jesus was. But it was so crowded that there was not even a room for one man to get to Jesus, not to mention for four people carrying a man in a litter. Could they come back later deep into the night when everyone was gone? No, now is the time or may he never have such chance to get all four friends together. He insisted and they decided to get him through the roof. So they dig through the roof and made a big hole over the place where Jesus was preaching. And they lowered down this man in a litter with four strings on each corner.

As this man was being lowered Jesus saw their faith, and said to this man, “friend, your sins are forgiven”. He was not a friend of God or friend of His Son Jesus because he committed sin and his paralysis speaks out about his sin. He was a sinner and an enemy of God. Yet the first word that Jesus uttered was, friend! Jesus welcomed him without any question or reservation. His friend knew his sin, he knew his sin and all of his family knew his sin. But Jesus, the Son of God, holy and righteous, called him friend!  Clearly Jesus welcomed him with love and compassion for this man, a sinner. He continued, “your sins are forgiven”.

But to the minds of many, what Jesus said was very arrogant and abominable statement. It is because only God can forgive sins of men. No men can dare to say or do such things!  Pharisee and teachers of the law, knew it all so well. So, in their heart they were convinced, ‘Jesus is undoubtedly a blasphemer!’

They did not utter a single word, and remained in silence. But Jesus knew what went on in their mind  and said,  "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?

23 Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?

No men can forgive sins and no men can heal a paralytic. Only God can do both! If one heals a paralytic, then is he just a man of mighty power?  No! God only can do such thing!  Jesus said to this man. So he said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." If Jesus was bluffing or he was blaspheming against God when he said he can forgive sins of man, then certainly he could not heal this man! God would not be with him and this man cannot be healed. But then immediately he got up and took the mat he was lying on and went home praising God. In this way Jesus made clear to everyone that Jesus has power to heal the paralytic and power to forgive his sins.

In this way Jesus opened a new era for his ministry. Jesus had been a healer of all kinds of sickness and diseases. He had taught the truth of God. In him was the power of God. But here one more step, Jesus has power to forgive sins of men. Jesus demonstrated this power through healing of the paralysis of this man.

Then we have a question, why did Jesus bless this man with healing and with forgiveness of sin? He was a sinner and his sin was so obvious to him and to his friends and families. His paralysis testified to his sin daily. Jesus knew it as well. Then why did Jesus heal and forgive this man? Did he do this just to reveal that Jesus has power to forgive sin? Highly unlikely! Jesus would never do such things just to demonstrate his power and ability! Then, why? It is said that Jesus saw his faith. What is exactly the faith that Jesus was happy with or worthy in his eyes? One may ask, “In Jesus eyes, is this man worthy than I am that he got such blessing?”

3.    Jesus called Levi a tax collector.

Levi was a shrewd business man. He sensed that tax collector is a lucrative job. So he communicated to a Roman officer and showed him his ability. He was hired as a tax collector. He became very successful in his business. His boss, a Roman government official noted his worthiness in making money. So Levi was rewarded with much money. He bought a good house and lived in a very affluent life than any of his relatives. But since he hired himself to Roman authority and since he began to collect taxes on his people, of Israel, it was obvious that he had no choice but to side with Romans.  In this way he rejected the way of Go. It was evident that he lived for his life and his wellbeing than God’s law and God’s people. If we put this in today’s term, it is like being a Russian spy in order to get all US information purely for his own benefit. So when everyone saw him hated him and demeaned his name as a traitor or betrayer or ungodly man or unclean man, esp carrying Roman coins where the inscription of Roman emperor was. Like this Money has been his god.

But one day he heard of Jesus. He heard that Jesus was a great teacher, powerful man of God and full of love and compassion. Though he wanted to see him, he could not do so because everyone hated him. Also he did so many ungodly things. In his mind there was no question that he sinned against God. How could he come to see Jesus, the holy man full of God’s word, God’s power?

But on this particular day, he saw a large crowd coming toward his booth. It was apparent that Jesus was in the middle and large crowd was following him listening Jesus message. It was the best occasion to see Jesus if he wanted to do. But he was frozen in his seat; though he wanted to see so eagerly, he could not do so. He was not sure if Jesus was going to accept him. Also many people around him will surely condemn him. How can he go there to see Jesus? Simply his sin was so deep and so heavy; he could not get up from his chair and went to Jesus. So he was sitting there watching afar Jesus and his crowds. We can say he was frozen to his seat by his own sin. To all men, Levi was a sinful and ungodly tax collector, nothing more or nothing less!

But as soon as Jesus saw him, he waved his hand and called his name Levi; come and follow me! Suddenly he was released from his chair. He sprung up from his chair and ran to Jesus. Though Jesus didn’t say a word, it was clear that Jesus accepted him and welcomed him to be his people. A terrible sinner Levi was accepted by the Son of God. This was an amazing event for this man.

Again, what was worthy of him that Jesus called this man? Why did Jesus reach out to him, though he did not to anything? He was just sitting at his chair in his tax booth! Did anyone notice what he did? No! Not at all! When he was found by Jesus, he appeared to be doing the same thing over last many decades of his life.

What of him did Jesus count worthy that he blessed this man? No one knew it and no one saw it. But Jesus knew what Levi had in the depth of his heart, though he never expressed this to anyone. What he had in his heart was revealed in what he did as Jesus called him;

28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

He left everything behind, including his old job, a money making business. He decidedly turned his way from the world to follow Jesus. Long before anyone knew of the changes of his mind, Jesus knew him and what he had in his mind.

How did Jesus characterize his mind?

31 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

He was a sinner. He became keenly aware of his sinful life. He regretted and repented of his sin and decided to seek God and his mercy. Only thing that he could not do was he could not volunteer himself to God because he knew of his egregious sins. Jesus called this ’repentance’

To the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, Levi and his life was not worthy of God’s blessing. We all agree with them. But Jesus saw something more than what we know and what the Pharisee saw, repentance. Regardless of all his past sins, ungodly life, Jesus welcomed him solely because he repented of his sins.

Repentance! This is what Jesus counted!

Was this only for Levi? Let’s think about the leper and the paralyzed.

	What he knew of himself	What he sensed	Action he take	Jesus’ demand/rebuke	Jesus’ reward
Leper	Sinner by sickness Worthless life;	futility of life helplessness	If you are willing, you can make me clean..	Nothing	I am willing, healing Show yourself to the priest
The Paralyzed	Sinner by effect of ungodly act	Useless life Helplessness	Get to Jesus by any means!	Saw faith.. nothing	Healing of paralysis Forgiveness of his sin
Levi	Sinner by life choice and living	Fruitless life in God Helplessness in sin	Left everything and followed Jesus	Nothing	Follow me

As we see here, all of them knew keenly that they were under the power of sin and helpless. In this helplessness they sought Jesus. This is not just to get a help for a temporary cure for their lives, but their commitment was a form of total dependence on Jesus.

This is repentance. Jesus counts worthy any men when he or she repent and seek Jesus. He does not count how able he/she is. How honest he/she is, how powerful or able he/she is. To God what we do is like a filthy rag. When we failed to know this, we try to do good again and again, yet we all eventually come to know that we cannot meet up to God by our efforts and labor.

When one man repents, he becomes worthy of God’s blessing. Jesus would not count one’s smartness and good things that one did.  Repentance is more valuable than large offering, more than bible study, more than many good things that one may do for others. The moment we pride in what we did or what we have or what we achieved,

How amazing it is that Jesus only counts repentance; we do not need to show how good we are. Simply we present ourselves to him as we are helpless sinners. We prostrate ourselves upon him seeking his will and his goodness’ Psalmist expressed such total dependence in God in this way:

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,  21 would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart? (Psa 44:20-21 NIV)

5 You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you. (Psa 69:5 NIV)

9 All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. (Psa 38:9 NIV)

One thing we should notice is that Jesus saw what was in the depth of these people’s heart; i.e repentance. No one uttered the word of repentance. But Jesus knew it. It is particularly striking in Levi. He was just sitting at his tax collector’s booth. But Jesus knew him and called him. So don’t be ashamed of what we have in our inmost thoughts. My parents do not know it and my wife or husband may not know it, my closest friends do not know it. Even I myself do not want to think about it. But God knows our inner being. So, bring them all to him and show our full dependence on His mercy and grace. God will surely bless us good things and reward us with richness of heavenly kingdom.

How amazing it is that Jesus blessed all those who repent regardless of what they did in the past! Jesus’ joy is not on how good things we do or achieve but in our repentance and total dependence upon him by faith.