The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

Matthew 11:19

Surprising as it may be to some, Jesus was never, biblically, a “a friend of sinners”.  The Pharisees used the term, but, scripturally, He was no more a friend of sinners than He was a glutton or a drunk.

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners? But when Jesus heard this, He said, It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means: I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Matthew 9:11-13

You see, a doctor has to be around sick people all the time, that He might bring them the cure.  He himself must not be sick, yet He must surround Himself with the thing He desires to eradicate (the germ, not the man) in order to bring about the deliverance (healing) He desires.

When we look at the life of Jesus, we must understand that He lived as a “branch cut off” (2 Kings 6:6).  That is, from the point of His baptism, He was separated from all man-kind.  Today, in the church, we may be surrounded by may of like spirit, and be mutually encouraged, but at the beginning of John’s Gospel, John tells us that “… Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men” (John 2:24).

Jesus is, of course, near the broken hearted.  He comes near to the sinner, as many as afar off, to draw them to Himself.  Yet, He remains who He is.

You see, that same man that walked amongst the worst, was also the best, and He never changed that.  Those who touched Him, and came near to Him, are those who believed.  And, believing in Him, they were saved.  Yet, John 2:24 says He didn’t entrust Himself to any man, for he knew all men.

This man was the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with suffering.  While we must walk the same walk, as He calls us, we will never have to do it as He did.  Although He was never alone, for His Father never left Him until the cross, for His ministry, no one walked where He walked, He could trust Himself to no one, and He only do what He saw the Father do.  For us, even if no one else will follow, we have Him, who walks through with us.  We must never walk that road with no one, for we always have Him.

As a Physician must walk amongst patients, He must also not become sick Himself.  The same sickness that had the world wanted to have Him, and He had to walk perfectly, in the strength of the Holy Spirit alone, to walk pure.

A doctor that becomes sick with the virus he is attempting to cure is no good to anyone.  Indeed, this is a concern amongst the medical persons today.  Yet, walking separate, cut off from the world into the realm of God’s Kingdom, set Him apart, and He was separate.

The same is true today.  Christ calls, and all who come to Him, he never drives away.  Those who are near Him are clean like Him, by His blood.  Those who are a far off, are lost.  The only difference is, at one time, we heard His voice, and came.