Day 44: Jesus Compels Us to Recognize Our Neediness

While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.” MATTHEW 9:10–13

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, I was signing books at a conference and noticed a woman hovering about twenty feet away. Every time I looked up, she glanced nervously in my direction, so as soon as I could, I walked over and introduced myself. She was wearing a waitress uniform that had seen better days, and explained how she’d come to the event straight from her morning shift at a pancake house. Then she shyly confessed that she identified with the stories I’d shared about my friends in addiction recovery. She went on to explain that she’d been addicted to meth for six years and had gotten clean by the grace of God.

After explaining that what I’d said about Jesus loving broken people and how our pasts don’t determine our destiny really blessed her, she pressed a crumpled twenty-dollar bill in my hand and said, “I wish I had more to give you, but please take this and use it for gas so you can go more places and tell more people like me that Jesus loves them.” At that point all I knew about her was what she’d shared in the span of three or four minutes, so I can’t be sure about this, but I assumed she needed that cash more than I did.

I mean, good night, I’ve got medical insurance, get manicures every couple of weeks, and had driven there in a car that was only a few years old. I felt guilty and awkward taking money from a woman who’d obviously been through heck and back and appeared to need it more than I did. So I replied gently, “Thank you so much, ma’am, but your encouragement is more than enough of a gift,” and tried to press the bill back into her closed fist. And instantly regretted my response when a look of disappointment washed across her face. When she leaned closer and whispered, “Please, I really want to help,” I accepted the bill with the gravitas a sacrificial gift like hers deserved and hugged her for a long time. My throat was tight with tears when we said goodbye, but I managed to thank her again and told her that her generosity had helped me more than she could possibly know. The lesson God engraved on my heart that day was, while I didn’t necessarily need the gas money, I desperately needed a friend to pull me out of the rut of self-sufficiency I’d once again gotten stuck in.

I’m so much more comfortable helping those in need than admitting I need help. Heck, even though I’m pushing sixty, I still usually run my own chainsaw when storms damage trees on our property rather than call a tree service. And while I’ve held my own with saplings and smaller trees, I have some gnarly scars to prove that trying to cut down a huge cedar was a bonehead move on my part! I’ve had to learn the hard way that pretending I don’t need help when I’m in way over my head isn’t just dumb, it’s dangerous. Which is certainly the case of the Pharisees who turned up their noses at the people who were enjoying a meal with Jesus: “When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’” (Matt. 9:11).

You can almost hear the condescension in their question, can’t you? It’s important to note here that Pharisees considered anyone who didn’t interpret and codify Torah exactly the same way they did as a “sinner.” Plus, they had super-strict laws regarding cleanliness and ritual washing. Which means these folks chowing down with our Savior weren’t necessarily notorious delinquents with threadbare morals; they may have simply forgotten to wash their hands before they ate.38 When Jesus said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick” (v. 12), He wasn’t celebrating the low cholesterol level of Pharisees, He was using irony to illuminate their inability to admit they needed spiritual healing. And when He said, “I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 13b), He wasn’t rebuffing the righteous, He was trying to help that haughty “God squad” recognize they needed as much divine aid as the tax collectors and non-hand-washers they judged as inferior. In short, Jesus was trying to make it clear that God’s salvific help comes to those who are open to receiving it.

Neediness is a spiritual necessity, y’all. Regardless of how well we toe the line—whether we’re like those ancient religious leaders who dotted every spiritual “i” and crossed every spiritual “t” or we’re more on the motley crew side of things—ultimately, we can’t save ourselves. In fact, whatever claim we make to “righteousness” is equivalent to a bunch of filthy rags (Isa. 64:6 niv)! No matter who we are or what rung of the societal ladder we were brought up on, our merciful Messiah compels us to acknowledge how sin has made our souls sick because He longs to make us well.

• DO YOU TEND to be more comfortable giving help or receiving help? Why do you think that is?
• READ JOHN 5:1–9. How would you answer the question Jesus asked the paralytic?
• READ 2 CHRONICLES 7:14. What does this verse reveal about the relationship between humility and healing?