Our paragraph topic is: (The call of Matthew) Part 3.
Christ is at the party and he overhears the select guest talking about the party crashers. He hears the pretty people asking why the honored guest socializes with sinners and publicans, with drug addicts and hustlers, with pornographers and prostitutes, with robbers and murderers, with all the unsavory characters that have crashed the party. Christ says to the Pharisees, "It is not the healthy who need a physician, but they who are sick."
Here is an important distinction to be made. Christ says, "Who need!" The healthy do not need. The wealthy do not need. The athletes do not need. The soldiers do not need. The politicians do not need. The lawyers do not need. Only those who are sick need. Only those who are on the edge need. Only those who are down trodden need. Only those who have no hope or any knowledge of where to find hope, need. Christ's metaphor spoke to the heart of the issue as to why he socialized with sinners and publicans. It speaks to the heart of the problem as to why we face issues today in our society. It speaks to the problem of poverty. It speaks to the problem of why we have prostitution. It speaks to the problem as to why we have robbers, and gang bangers, and thiefs, and homelessness, and drunkenness, and abuse, and so many social issues. Christ socialized. Christ walked among them. Christ touched the retched. Christ healed the sick. Christ loved the homeless. Christ saw the need and did not turn from it.
The society that we live in today is such that people are dropping off the cliff and we are pushing them off. We, in our selfish needs, are so busy climbing over others for our own needs that we do not have time, energy, effort, or desire to help others. Imagine a sea of people climbing up a cliff and everybody is climbing over everybody else to get to the top. Those at the edge are being pushed off the cliff into the abyss so that we can get a little further ahead. We do not stop to see the nature of our actions. We do not pause to take stock of what we are doing. We collectively march towards the carrot so that we can get our own, regardless of who we step on or walk over. And this is the society that we live in.
Sure there are organizations and agencies that tackle the issues that we are blind to. Sure there are good physicians and loving hearts that work to clean up the flood of victims with a few paper towels. They work with a tireless energy knowing that their efforts do not begin to deal with the enormity of the issue. Christ walked among them. Christ socialized with them. Christ healed them. Christ was them. We are apart from them. We do not socialize with them. We do not see them. We do not understand them. We do not love them. Christ saw the need. He came to meet the need of the sick. He came to meet the need of the poor. He came to provide for the hungry. He came to give hope. He came to say to us what was needed, just as he said to the Pharisees,
"It is not the healthy who need a physician, but they who are sick."
Christ is at the party and he overhears the select guest talking about the party crashers. He hears the pretty people asking why the honored guest socializes with sinners and publicans, with drug addicts and hustlers, with pornographers and prostitutes, with robbers and murderers, with all the unsavory characters that have crashed the party. Christ says to the Pharisees, "It is not the healthy who need a physician, but they who are sick."
Here is an important distinction to be made. Christ says, "Who need!" The healthy do not need. The wealthy do not need. The athletes do not need. The soldiers do not need. The politicians do not need. The lawyers do not need. Only those who are sick need. Only those who are on the edge need. Only those who are down trodden need. Only those who have no hope or any knowledge of where to find hope, need. Christ's metaphor spoke to the heart of the issue as to why he socialized with sinners and publicans. It speaks to the heart of the problem as to why we face issues today in our society. It speaks to the problem of poverty. It speaks to the problem of why we have prostitution. It speaks to the problem as to why we have robbers, and gang bangers, and thiefs, and homelessness, and drunkenness, and abuse, and so many social issues. Christ socialized. Christ walked among them. Christ touched the retched. Christ healed the sick. Christ loved the homeless. Christ saw the need and did not turn from it.
The society that we live in today is such that people are dropping off the cliff and we are pushing them off. We, in our selfish needs, are so busy climbing over others for our own needs that we do not have time, energy, effort, or desire to help others. Imagine a sea of people climbing up a cliff and everybody is climbing over everybody else to get to the top. Those at the edge are being pushed off the cliff into the abyss so that we can get a little further ahead. We do not stop to see the nature of our actions. We do not pause to take stock of what we are doing. We collectively march towards the carrot so that we can get our own, regardless of who we step on or walk over. And this is the society that we live in.
Sure there are organizations and agencies that tackle the issues that we are blind to. Sure there are good physicians and loving hearts that work to clean up the flood of victims with a few paper towels. They work with a tireless energy knowing that their efforts do not begin to deal with the enormity of the issue. Christ walked among them. Christ socialized with them. Christ healed them. Christ was them. We are apart from them. We do not socialize with them. We do not see them. We do not understand them. We do not love them. Christ saw the need. He came to meet the need of the sick. He came to meet the need of the poor. He came to provide for the hungry. He came to give hope. He came to say to us what was needed, just as he said to the Pharisees,
"It is not the healthy who need a physician, but they who are sick."
