Mark 2:17

Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance”

Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast tells the story of “a certain king who arranged a marriage feast  for his son.” The story tells how the king’s servants went out to invite various guests to the wedding but how each found an excuse not to come. The parable ends with an astonishing statement:

‘Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests (Matthew 22:9-10, emphasis added).

What is Jesus saying here? Why would God invite both the “bad” and the “good” to His wedding feast? Isn’t Jesus saying that God’s law of grace is unconditional and impartial? Realizing this grace, these guests were transformed. Isn’t that what Jesus did when He was on earth? Didn’t He eat and drink with the bad and the good? Didn’t He extend God’s kingdom of mercy and grace to everyone alike?

Satan’s throne of iniquity, on the other hand, creates a ladder of worth based on a merit system, albeit a false merit; thus it promotes pride. The proud are just as spiritually sick as everyone else, if not more—but they do not see their own disease. They are blind to it—they are in need of nothing.

Throughout the Scriptures, God shows His concern for those who see their own spiritual need:

The poor and needy seek water, but there is none, their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them (Isaiah 41:17).

God on Trial pp. 92, 93