What is the meaning of Luke 5:31? jesus answered • In Luke 5:30 the Pharisees and scribes complain that Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus “answered” their complaint, showing He is never caught off guard when religious pride collides with divine mercy (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9). • His reply echoes later occasions: “On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick’ ” (Matthew 9:12; Mark 2:17). Scripture consistently presents Him as ready to give a reason for what He does (cf. 1 Peter 3:15), grounding His defense in the very heart of God’s redemptive plan. it is not the healthy • Jesus begins with the obvious: people in good health do not seek medical help. He uses the physical realm to illustrate the spiritual. • The “healthy” represent those who see themselves as righteous. Proverbs 30:12 warns of “a generation pure in its own eyes,” and Romans 10:3 speaks of Israel “seeking to establish their own righteousness.” • Apart from Christ, no one is truly healthy: “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). Yet self-reliance blinds many to their condition (Revelation 3:17). who need a doctor • The divine Physician identifies His patient group. Throughout Scripture God reveals Himself as healer: “I am the LORD who heals you” (Exodus 15:26); “He heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3). • Jesus’ mission statement in the synagogue—“He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives… to set free the oppressed” (Luke 4:18)—mirrors a doctor’s call to those in bondage to sin. • Paul captures it concisely: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Only those who admit the need will ever experience the cure. but the sick • “The sick” are those conscious of sin’s terminal diagnosis. Isaiah 1:5-6 paints humanity as covered with “wounds and welts and festering sores.” • Isaiah 53:5 shows the remedy: “By His wounds we are healed.” Jesus’ words foreshadow the cross, where the Doctor will pay the price for the patient’s life. • When Jesus later states, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10), He reinforces that His practice specializes in hopeless cases—dead in trespasses (Ephesians 2:1) yet made alive in Him (Colossians 2:13). summary Jesus’ reply in Luke 5:31 exposes two heart conditions. Those confident in their own goodness see no need for grace and remain untreated. Those who acknowledge spiritual sickness run to the only true Physician and find full healing. By identifying with the “sick,” we receive the cure secured at Calvary and enter a life of restored fellowship with God. |
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