✝ Daily Encouragement (11/02/23) "We All Need This Doctor"

Published: Thu, 11/02/23

A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber.

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Thursday, November 2, 2023

This fire bush is in full crimson array.

"We All Need This Doctor"

Message summary: "Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick'". At first glance it may appear that Jesus is saying it is not the healthy (the Pharisees) who need a doctor but the sick (the tax collectors and sinners) implying the Pharisees are spiritually healthy. But that's not His message! We all need this doctor.

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"Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners'" (Matthew 9:12-13).

Throughout life we have been blessed by good medical care, including both general and specialized. Early this year I had surgery to remove infected mesh from an abdominal surgery 14 years ago. At the time my surgeon explained the mesh would very likely need replaced and a CAT scan last month verified that is indeed the case. So, that is something I have to look forward to! This is all the result of a baseball injury when I was young. However I wouldn't trade being active all through life and the consequences of that activity.

Today we will consider a doctor we all need.

We don't know a lot about doctors or medical practices in the Bible times. Luke is described as a physician and in another place Jesus healed a woman who had been ill for twelve years who had been treated by many doctors.

We normally think of going to a doctor when we are sick, which was also the reasoning at the time of Christ. In our daily text Jesus said as much when He told his listeners, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick". In our day we also go for a preventive type examination when we are healthy. My first experience with this type of doctoring was during high school when I was required to have a physical for sports. I don't recall Mom taking me in for checkups when I was young, only when I did something stupid like putting a marble in my nose!

The Great Physician practiced what He preached when He went about the region healing those whose bodies were diseased. In Matthew 9 Jesus sought out Matthew at a tax collector's booth and said to him, "Follow me" (v.9). Right after this He had a meal in Matthew's house where "many tax collectors and sinners" joined them (v.10).

This was especially an affront to the proud Pharisees who represented the "holier than thou" attitude of their day. This greatly distressed them and they asked the disciples concerning Jesus, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" (v.11).

"Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick'". At first glance it may appear that Jesus is saying it is not the "healthy"(Pharisees) who need a doctor but the sick (the tax collectors and sinners). But Jesus doesn't stop here. He challenges their thinking, "But go and learn what this means". He didn't elaborate but wanted them to learn as they considered what He was about to say.

His answer is contained in the simple phrase: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice". Here Jesus was actually quoting the Old Testament prophet Hosea, "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6).

Jesus ended the exchange by stating, "For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners". Indeed the pursuit of His righteousness begins when we acknowledge (confess) we are sinners and repent. Each of us is born into sin and must make a willful choice to be saved by God's grace.

Jesus was calling attention to the fact that the Pharisees, who relied upon religious rituals ("sacrifices and burnt offerings") to make themselves righteous before God, were actually missing the mercy and knowledge of God Himself. They did not realize that, in fact, they were the ones sick in spirit and desperately in need of the Master Healer's touch. We all need this doctor!

And so, let us join with that same Old Testament prophet Hosea in affirming: "Let us know the Lord, let us press on to know Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear, He will come to us..." (Hosea 6:3).

Be encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13 )

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Heavenly Father, You extend mercy to the downtrodden, to those rejected by society, and to all who realize they are sick, indeed dead in their sins and need a Savior. You sent Jesus to earth not just to mingle and fellowship with the chosen few, but to call out those who acknowledge their souls are diseased by sin and the only hope they have for spiritual healing is experienced by salvation through Christ Jesus. Our Great Physician can make us every whit whole. We want to press on to know Him more fully and bring along as many as we can to meet the mender of our heart and Healer of our soul. Amen.

Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"The Great Physician" Watch on Youtube Cloverdale Bibleway

"All Sufficient Merit" Watch on Youtube Shane & Shane

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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.

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