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I came to call sinners and not the righteous.

Oh what injustice! We have made an effort, have always been righteous and then shouldn’t we sit “in the front row” with Jesus and rest? Instead, should we get up, keep working and give others the opportunity to sit in “our seats’? This type of “reward” is completely unknown in our meritocracy.

I had the opportunity to take part in an event in which a prominent politician first gave a lecture and was then available for further discussions over a small dinner. It was clearly observed that the given seating arrangement and thus the distance to the “main person” was directly related to the merits for the sponsor of the event. That’s how we know it, that’s how we experience it from childhood. The best students are honored in front of all their parents, the best journeymen of a year receive an award, the most capable employees in a company receive incentives, the most important … If we follow Jesus today as Christians, we are in a double role. On the one hand we belong to those people who do well to be aware that they urgently need the help of the doctor Jesus Christ and are lost without His care and grace, on the other hand we as a congregation also form the body of Christ. In His church, the congregation, Jesus is alive at all times. The congregation has the task of turning to the poor, the weak and the sick, just like Jesus Christ Himself did back then. How do we live this mission?

As a congregation, we want to see the needs of our brothers and sisters, that is, our own needs, and take them seriously. As sisters and brothers, we also have quite legal claims on our community. But it is not right when caring for one’s own community, one’s own brothers and sisters and thus about ourselves, becomes an end in itself, when it is the actual reason for the existence of the community – that is, the work of Jesus in this time.

The church then lost sight of the God who works in the world, who loves her and wants to heal the sick. American minister Walt Kallestad has called this “the real tragedy” of many churches.

Back then, Jesus not only explained to the Pharisees why He went to the sick, He also asked them directly to think about what they were doing. It is not the (like so impossible) observance of all laws, the right sacrifice, one’s own righteousness that find favor with God, but the mercy that humbly turns to all those in need, those seeking help and the sick. Even the church of Jesus in our time is not measured by how much it observes liturgies, has a good sermon and carries out sacramental activities correctly, but by how much it turns to the people.

We like to have everything well organized and perfect, including our church life. It would be tragic if we feared that the “tax collectors” would bring disorder to our harmonious community. Many congregations fail in their mission because they cannot deal with the situation that “others” are new to the congregation, as they may disrupt the usual processes. But precisely those who perhaps do not know how to approach their God, who are still unfamiliar with salvation through Jesus Christ, who are ashamed of their condition, who perhaps ask uncomfortable questions, who … , they in particular need our full attention. Verse 12 “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”

The Christmas party at a primary school shows that there is another way. Traditionally, children’s poems should accompany the celebration in an atmospheric way and make the parents happy. The supervisors once again put a lot of effort into finding the right texts and practicing the presentation with the children. Traditionally, for optimal success, the poems are only read by the best readers among the children – just not this time. When it came to distributing the texts, a boy who found school and, above all, reading, very difficult, got in touch. He got his chance and was even allowed to recite the most important part of the poem. In all his previous school days, he had never been so enthusiastic about attending class as he was in the days after that decision. Was the celebration traditionally solemn? – I don’t know, it doesn’t matter either.

“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”