18 January 2014 - divine physician

18 January 2014 - divine physician 


“Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Let's not take this for granted.  It is as if the Pharisees say, 'This guy spends all his time in dive bars.  The people with whom he surrounds himself are hedonistic, violent, and don't give a thought to others.  How can he be the Messiah?'  OK, point taken, or at least better understood.

Jesus is different from us.  Without him, we have to wall ourselves off from sin.  We have to separate from it as much as possible.  We don't have the strength to be victorious over it within our flesh.  But Jesus is not made unclean by the things around him.  Instead, healing and purity flows from him.

Jesus heard this and said to them,
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

This is good news.  No matter how much we try to wall ourselves off from the sinners of the world we find sin nevertheless alive in our hearts.  We need Jesus to heal us as much as anyone else needs it.  We do not have the holiness without which no one can see God (cf. Heb. 12:14).  Only Jesus has this holiness.  Only the Divine Physician can make it present in us.  Only he can sustain it in us.  It isn't even that he does something once (e.g., baptism) and we are strong enough to get up and running.  We need him moment to moment to sustain this grace within us and let us share in his own holiness.

Jesus is the one who will ultimately "save them from the grasp of their enemies roundabout."  But Saul's ultimate enemy is not "roundabout" it is within his own heart.  This victory over our flesh is what Jesus ultimately comes to bring.

O LORD, in your strength the king is glad;
in your victory how greatly he rejoices!
You have granted him his heart’s desire;
you refused not the wish of his lips.

He changes our hearts to desire what he desires.  He gives us strength to do his will.  He has taken captive sin and death.  The principalities and the powers subjected to him.  He invites us to let him reign over the forces of darkness within our own hearts.  He invites us to rejoice in his victory.

Great is his glory in your victory;
majesty and splendor you conferred upon him.
For you made him a blessing forever;
you gladdened him with the joy of your face.

When Jesus reigns in us we too will be able to go to sinners without fear of contamination.  We too will go before the sick and the poor and the lame and transform them instead of being transformed.  We hear his call, "Follow me", and we will run after him, rejoicing that even the demons are subject to us.

Lord, in your strength the king is glad.