Only the Lowly
John Fischer

Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough. (Mark 2:17)?

If Jesus has come to call sinners and those who need a doctor, what does that say about those of us who have heard the call and are currently following Him? It means we’re the sick ones—the sinners—the ones who got the call. (Or do you cross some line after you are called to where you are presumably good enough and don’t need a doctor anymore?) Why do we miss something this obvious?

This is good news for the lowly. But it’s more than that. It’s good news for only the lowly. Those who don’t see themselves as lowly don’t get the call. You really don’t get it about Jesus until you realize that He turned everything religious on its head. Holy, righteous people don’t get to follow Jesus, and it stands to reason because they don’t need to. They’re already okay. They called themselves.

Of course this doesn’t mean that lowly people don’t get to be righteous. In fact they are the most righteous because they don’t see themselves that way. Their righteousness is not in their own eyes, it is in the eyes of Christ. Truly righteous people keep seeing themselves as lowly, and they stand continually amazed in the presence of a very holy God who sees them as healthy and whole.

This is also why these people are quick to serve. Because they already see everyone as better than themselves, serving is a genuine thing. It’s the appropriate thing to do: give credit where credit is due—to someone other than me. Thus serving is not some magnanimous move of a proud man stooping to play the role of a servant because that’s what you’re supposed to do if you follow Christ. No, serving is doing what comes naturally from the humble place one occupies all the time.

Conversely, people who see themselves as above others are going to have a very hard time serving anybody. So I suppose I could turn this around and say that if I have a hard time serving, why is that? Is it because I see myself as better than most other people? (Why do you think I know so much about this? Because I’m so good at thinking this way. Believe me, I speak of what I know.)

“But wait a minute,” someone is sure to say, “someone has to be good enough. Someone has to be healthy. Someone has to be the example others can look up to.” Yes, this is true, but just make sure you don’t think it’s you, because the minute you think you’re the one, you put yourself in a group of people Jesus didn’t come for. And who wants to be there?

PDL