Mark 2:13-17
Jesus Comes for Sinners
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Jesus traveled and searched the surrounding villages in Israel for the lost, the broken, the weary, the guilty soul -the sinner...And when He found them, He forgave them, He healed them, and He gave them hope...And during this time, He was always talking about His Father, who is God...The hopeless needed and need Someone who they could and can hold close to themselves, because they are most aware in their lost and hopeless state that they need Someone...We need a forgiving Father...Those who needed Him most understand their own personal need or needs...This Someone came to them and dined regularly among those who sinned...Those who felt they were righteous regularly questioned Him and His motives and why He was most often with those who sin...But helping others was His motive...Helping those who needed the most help is what He does...