NOTES for Mat 9:12

The aphoristic sayings of Jesus always have several meanings. So it is with these words: first, with them He reproaches the Pharisees because, in their condemnation of tax collectors and sinners, they are merciless; they do not understand other people’s problems and do not feel another person’s pain. “A full man does not understand the hungry.” Second, when the Pharisees condemn Jesus for associating with sinners, they reveal their blindness: they do not see that Jesus comes not as one sinner to other sinners, but as a physician to a patient. And third, Jesus invites everyone around Him to think: if sin is an illness, then who is the physician able to heal that illness? And if I exalt myself above others, considering myself healthy, then what physician am I rejecting in my life? Is Jesus saying that one must become “sick” in order to call for a physician (“if you do not sin, you will not repent”)? Of course not; but it is necessary to recognize the illness that already truly exists.