The Great Physician Received Sick Ones

People are precious. They’re created in the image of God. Though, in some

sense, the image of God is lost after humanity’s fall into sin, and God eagerly waits

to restore us back to be how He’s made us to be.

Sins are real. They need to be dealt with. People need to know they have

them. Quite simply, because people need to know they’re sick. Because as Jesus

says in our Gospel reading, “those who are well have no need of a physician.”

This is the act of our God. He tears us down in order to build us up. He reveals the

poverty of the human heart through His Law, that the Gospel might actually speak

to the person and fill them up.

However, when God reveals His Law to people, He doesn’t do so out of

vengeance. Or hate. Or spite. But love. Because the Lord desires repentance and

faith from sinners – not a life lived apart from Him. So, when we present God’s

Law, we must not forget that people are precious. They’re valuable. They’re people

for whom Christ died – for that’s how our heavenly Father treats them.

It’s with this in mind that we mention St. Matthew. St. Matthew reveals so

much to us about Christ in His Gospel. He shows how the Old Testament is

fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus. He writes down some of the greatest

discourses Jesus ever spoke – like the Sermon on the Mount, the parables of the

kingdom, and also the prophecies on the end of the ages.September 21, 2025 | 2

Another thing unique to Matthew’s Gospel, is Jesus’ clear teaching against

hypocrisy. A hypocrite is a play actor. They appear godly and righteous, yet their

actions show differently. They neglect to see the log in their own eye to see the

speck in their neighbors. That is, they aren’t even aware of their own sin and

issues. The goal of a hypocrite is to care for himself, to never walk alongside

someone they despise, and to never show mercy. To repeat what was said earlier,

hypocrites don’t regard people as precious.

Our Gospel shows the biggest hypocrites of our Lord’s Day: the Pharisees.

The Pharisees set themselves up as judges as others. But man doesn’t make

judgements on sin – God does. God’s judgment will come one day, we can know

and trust that. So, in our mercy, it’s not like sinners get away scot-free. For the

standard of judgment doesn’t originate within us – it originates in the holy Law of

God, which is summed up in one word: love. Love God. Love neighbor. Hypocrisy

ignores love.

And if you want to see this love in action, look no further than how our Lord

called His disciples. Today, we read about Matthew’s call to discipleship. Matthew

was at the tax booth, collecting taxes from His own people on behalf of the Roman

government. Matthew’s fellow Jewish people didn’t like tax collectors – because

not only did they work for the enemy, those who were against God’s people and

oppressed them. Tax collectors also stole from God’s people.

Side note, it’s interesting how Matthew uses the name “Matthew” here in the

Gospel, as opposed to the name the other disciples use in their Gospels, “Levi.”

Levi was the Hebrew name. And Matthew was his Greek name – sort of like

Simon-Peter, or Saul-Paul. But Matthew uses His Greek name in His Gospel, not

his Hebrew one. Why? I think it shows humility. He owns his sin. He worked forSeptember 21, 2025 | 3

the enemy – the Greeks. He stole. He cheated. Yet, when Christ came? He

changed.

So, Christ called to him from his tax booth – “follow me”. And Matthew

did. Later that night, they all sat and ate a meal together. And when the Pharisees

came by and saw that Jesus ate with people of the likes of Matthew, the Pharisees

said “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” They

couldn’t understand how someone who claimed to at the very least be a teacher, a

rabbi, or even a prophet of God, could eat with someone like Matthew – one who’s

an enemy of the Israelite state. One who steals from His own people. What value

does such a one have?

That’s the attitude of a hypocrite. Outwardly, they do righteous things. They

pray tithe, worship, fast, etc. Yet, they hate their enemies and refuse love and

mercy to them as the Law commands. They see a bunch of sinners and walk on the

other side of the road. They see the specks that are in their eye, themselves to see

the log that’s in their own. That’s still a danger for us. It’s easy to measure others

against our standards – what sins bother ME, what failures I don’t like to see. Or

we’ll pick and choose what kind of sinners are worthy of my mercy and love,

while others are better left to someone else because I can’t bear that burden. But

God alone is judge, and His Law is not shaped by our egos. His standard is shaped

by love and mercy – a willingness to bring the sick to Jesus.

Imagine a hospital where the sickest patients are turned away at the door.

Where the staff only admit those who look healthy. What kind of hospital would

that be? Yet that’s exactly how the Pharisees treated sinners—they turned them

away. But Christ is not like that. He is the Great Physician. He welcomes the sick,

because only the sick can be healed. The church, then, is not a country club for theSeptember 21, 2025 | 4

righteous but a hospital for sinners. And here in this place, Christ is the Physician

who feeds us with His mercy.

Here’s what the Pharisees didn’t recognize: people are precious. They’ll

make mistakes. But what’s commanded us by our Lord? Walk alongside them and

show them mercy. Don’t sacrifice them. Build them up in Christian love, bearing

the load and weight of wrongdoing with them, patiently waiting for the work of the

Spirit to work, simultaneously pointing them to the emptiness of their own soul

and their need for Christ to fill them with forgiveness, righteousness, and peace.

That’s the meaning of the command our Lord gave to the Pharisees – “Go and

learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’”

Consider this in your own life. Maybe you have a child who is cohabiting.

Love doesn’t seek to get justice on that one particular issue. God will deal out His

justice in His time. But your child is precious. Love seeks to snatch them from the

flames, to call them to repentance, to show them that Christ’s mercy is for them.

God has placed that person in your life so that you might minister to them, not run

away. To walk away when the opportunity to love comes—that would be

hypocrisy.

And that’s the same thing our Lord calls the church to do – go and learn

what Jesus means. Quite simply, it means, act like Christ. He saw Matthew and

saw His value for him in his kingdom. Yes, he worked for the oppressive Roman

government. Yes, he stole from the people of God. Yet, he was precisely the one

who needed mercy. That is, Matthew was one who needed to be called out of

darkness and into the marvelous light. He was a sinner, who needed to be called

into the righteousness of God. He needed to live in light of a new, transformed,

changed life that’s only possible through the merits of the God-man Jesus, whom

Matthew got up to follow.September 21, 2025 | 5

And Matthew’s story reminds us that Christ’s mercy doesn’t stop with him.

It shapes how we live as His church today. For the way we deal with sin – whether

among those inside the church or those who are outside the knowledge of the

Lord’s grace – the way we react to sin is still guided by the same mercy that called

Matthew out of the tax booth.

Of course, there’s a difference in how we address sin inside the church

versus outside. For those in the church, we correct one another as brothers and

sisters, desiring repentance and restoration. For those outside, we invite, we

witness, we point them to the Great Physician who still eats with sinners today.

So don’t act towards others as hypocrites, but as fellow sinners. Come to

them out of humility. Matthew didn’t hide his sins. He put them on full display. He

was a tax collector, an enemy of God’s people. He owns his sin. Yet, after he

encountered Christ, he left his wickedness and lived a life to share the Gospel. He

did this, not from pride or self-exaltation over and above the lives of others. Rather,

he did it from humility, joining Christ in desiring mercy, not sacrifice.

Join Matthew. Sin boldly. But boast of Christ’s forgiveness and

righteousness even more boldly. When your eyes are opened to the struggles in

your own life, your witness changes. You begin to see the struggles of those around

you – and you see that they too are precious to your Lord. Recognizing their

burdens and need for healing, we seek to help them in love by pointing sick people

to the Great Physician, who is Christ our Lord.

And let’s not forget— we’re sick too. We too need people who can point out

the logs and specks in our own eyes. If we think we’re above criticism, above

correction in doctrine or life, then we’re no different than the Pharisees. Jesus says,September 21, 2025 | 6

“Those who are well have no need of a physician.” If you think you’re well, then

you have no need of Christ.

But here is the comfort: Christ Himself is our peace. As St. Paul writes, “For

He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His

flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14). The wall is gone—between

Jew and Gentile, Pharisee and tax collector, saint and sinner, parent and prodigal

child. Christ came for Matthew, He came for your neighbor, and He came for you.

May He send us in the church, and those outside the church, messengers to point

out specks and logs, that we may all receive the healing in Christ redeeming blood.