Mark 2:17 - I have come to call sinners

2:17

The Pharisees and other religious types had no idea of what God’s purposes were. We all need to be on our guard that we do not fall into the same trap as the Pharisees. Jesus then explained to them why He had come. It is the ill who need a doctor, in the same way it is sinners who need a saviour. Jesus came as that saviour, to save us from our sins. The righteous have no need of a saviour. Schnabel seems to say that Jesus is saying that He came first to save sinners, and the Pharisees were a lower priority and less need. If my understanding of what he is saying (p71) is correct then I think he is totally wrong. We are all sinners, and various things that Jesus says about the Pharisees show clearly that they were not the least bit righteous in God’s eyes. We need to recognise our sinfulness, our need of a saviour. We also need to recognise that Jesus is interested in saving many more sinners, ever, especially, those we might regard as beyond the pale. It is a very human reaction, one that we are all prone to, to regard some people as far worse than ourselves.