I think one of my favorite questions that Jesus is asked in the Gospels is, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? (Luke 5:30)” Every time I read it, it makes me smile.

This particular questions comes after Levi is called to follow Jesus. Levi was a tax collector and was likely considered a traitor to his people. The tax collectors of any age, it seems, are despised by everyone. Levi, after being invited to follow Jesus throws a party at his place. His community shows up and the religious elite were not impressed. How could Jesus eat and drink with those people?

How did Jesus respond to the question? “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. (Luke 5:31)”

This is a bit of a shock if I think deeply on this response. When we hear of a sick person what is our typical response? I think for most of us it is a response of empathy, sympathy, and compassion. We earnestly pray for the sick. Neighbors pull together meals and care for the sick. Our hearts are moved for the ill.

When Jesus looks at those who are “sinners” he apparently does not see people who are failures to be condemned. No, he sees them as people who are sick and need to be cared for. Spiritual sickness is just as real as physical or mental illness. Yet, our response to spiritual sickness is not often empathy, sympathy, and compassion. As Eugene Peterson says in his magisterial, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, our response is too often a spiritual elitism.

Being confronted with a sick person usually does not lead us to a response of, “Boy, I’m so much better than you.” No, it engenders in us, “But by the grace of God, go I.” In opposition to a sense of elitism it is a sense of grace.

I think that this mindset needs to be recaptured by the church. What if we understood sin as an illness as opposed to a moral failing? What if we understood the gospel as something that brings spiritual healing as opposed to simply a judicial response?

Too many of us would shoot Jesus the same side eye as the religious elite of his own day. We know this, because we can look around at many of our responses to fellow believers who are faithfully present in the lives of those people. Have you ever uttered, “No true Christian could…”? I know I have.

I have done so to my own shame.

When I utter those words they are un-Christlike. When I utter those words I am undercutting the power of the gospel of grace.

Someone reading may think, “Ah, so you don’t think anyone should be held accountable for their actions?” With Paul, I cry, “By no means!” I am learning that a punitive judgement is not the gospel response. Like a good doctor, we must discern how to apply grace to bring healing. There are times when that will require a hard conversation. There are times when it will require patient listening. Jesus responses to the variety of people he interacts with in the Gospels is instructive. He responds to each person exactly how they need so that they might be in the best possible position to receive the grace offered.

The church is at its best when it understands itself as hospital not law court.