Francis Bourdillon, 1873
 

A great feast is going on, and many people are there. But it is not in this country, nor is it according to our ways. The people are not dressed like us, and they do not sit at table as we do. They are dressed in long, loose clothes; and they lie — or rather, half sit, half lie — on couches or benches placed alongside the tables, much in the same way as a person now may rest on a sofa.

What sort of people are they? Some of them are hard-faced men, looking like men of business of some kind. They have a sharp and keen expression of face, as if they lived only to make money; if there is any truth in looks, there are some men here of a covetous, grasping, harsh, and cruel character. You could not take them for good men, though in station they may be what is called respectable, for they wear good clothes and do not look like poor people.

But there are others who do look poor and are by no means well-dressed. Some of them give you the idea that they were once better off, but have fallen into poverty by their own fault. These do not look good any more than the others; yet they are different. They look as if they had led a loose life. Sin is plainly written on the face of more than one — you may read there a sad tale of sinful habits and wasted life.

But is this all the company? No. There is a small number of men who, it is clear, are different from the rest. They seem chiefly poor men — plain, honest, working men, one would say, from their dress and appearance. They keep much together and seem to know one another well. But especially they all seem to like to be near to one of the company whom I have not yet mentioned. He appears to be their head. Not exactly their master, for He is as poor as any of them; and yet their master too, for their eyes are fixed on Him; they listen to every word He says and are ready to do all He tells them. He is not the owner of the house or the giver of the feast; He is only one of the guests; and yet, while you look, you cannot help feeling He is the chief person there.

He looks kind and good. When He speaks, all listen; not only these last, but all the rest too. And He does speak, and speak to all there. You may see by their faces that what He says is serious and solemn. There is a great stillness while He speaks — great stillness and attention, and no little sign of feeling on some faces.

Do you see the change that has come over that hard face, so deeply furrowed with lines of care? Is not that man feeling softened, humbled, sorry? I do believe he is weeping! It is long since tears flowed down that cheek.

And see that young man among the other sort, among the poor and ill-looking. If ever "prodigal" was written on a face, it is to be read on his. Surely a father's heart has grieved for that young man; surely a mother has wept bitter tears on his account. But now, as he hears these kind yet solemn words, he himself is moved to tears. As bad as he is — he hears himself invited to be happy. As wicked as his life has been — he is spoken to in words of hope, comfort, peace, forgiveness. To judge by his look, he would have been angry if you had reproved him for his bad ways; but love and kindness have melted him.

I have drawn you a picture. Do you know what it means? Does anything that you ever heard or read before, come back to your mind? Perhaps it does, for the picture is not drawn out of my own head; the sketch, the outline, is none of mine; I have only tried to fill it in a little, as we may imagine it to have really been. This is no idle tale, but a true story; at least the main points are true, for they are taken from the Bible.

He who seemed chief at the feast, who spoke so kindly, and whose words moved the hearts of those who heard Him, was Jesus. 

The men who seemed to treat Him as their master, were His disciples: James and John, Andrew and Peter and the rest.

The hard-faced men were tax-gatherers under the Roman government — a class of men of very bad name, for most of them were grasping and covetous, and cheated and oppressed the people. They had the power to do this; and they used that power, and they made themselves rich by it.

The poor, ill-looking ones were people of the place who were sinners — men and women of bad habits and character, living in wickedness.

But how did Jesus go there? How was it that He would be with such "sinners" as these? You are not the first to ask that question. Some who saw Him there asked the same. For there were some men at the feast besides those I have mentioned; not however as guests, not eating and drinking with the rest, but looking on. These men narrowly watched all that Jesus did and listened to what He said. And they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax-gatherers and sinners?" The men who asked that question were the proud, self-righteous scribes and Pharisees. Jesus did not leave His disciples to answer it; He answered it Himself: "Those who are well," said He, "have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous — but sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:17).

What He meant was this: the scribes and Pharisees, who found fault with Him, thought themselves righteous, and in some respects perhaps they were better than the publicans and "sinners". He did not come to call such, for they did not think they were sinners in need of repentance and would not have listened to Him. But He came to call sinners, and therefore He went where sinners were and spoke to them and sat down in their company. He was the Physician of souls; but these proud scribes and Pharisees thought they were whole, or well, and needed no physician for their souls; it was the sick who wanted a physician, and such He came to heal and save.

Now we see why Jesus was found in company with wicked people. He did not go there for His own pleasure; He was pure and holy. It could be no pleasure to Him to be with the wicked; but He went to do them good, to call them, to save them.

What does a doctor go to the sick for? Does he like to go into that infectious room? Is it any pleasure to him to breathe bad air and to see pain and suffering? He does not go for pleasure; he goes to give advice and medicine, or to dress a wound or to set a limb. He goes among the sick and suffering only as a physician or doctor — to relieve pain, heal the body, and save life.

In the same way, Jesus went among sinners to do them good. The souls of these publicans and sinners were out of health and in danger. Sin had struck them down and was ruining them. They needed medicine and a physician. Jesus, the blessed Son of God, was the Physician of souls — He brought them medicine that would make them well. This was why He went among them.

Jesus is just the same still. He is the Physician of souls — He cares for sinners. He is able and willing to heal them. When He had lived a few years on earth and gone about doing good to both soul and body, then He died. He need not have died; He need not have come into this world at all; but He came and died on purpose to save souls — the souls of sinners; to pay their debt, to make atonement for their sins — by shedding His own precious blood for them on the cross.

Thus we may call that precious blood, the medicine for our souls. Nothing else can make us well, because nothing else can wash away our sin and guilt. This medicine is offered to us freely, for nothing, "without money and without price." The Good Physician brings it to us; for though He is not now on earth and we cannot see and hear Him as the publicans and sinners did — yet He speaks to us by His word and Spirit, and by the lips of ministers and others. And we may pray, and He will hear us and be our Physician and heal our souls and take all our sin and guilt away!

He will do this for you, whoever you are, and whatever you have done. He who came to call sinners to repentance — calls you. He who used to heal the sick — will heal your soul. He will do it completely — He will do it now.

Are you poor? So were many of these people. Are you wicked? So were they. Do some of those who have led a better life turn away from you? So did the scribes and Pharisees from the tax-gatherers and sinners — yet Jesus sat down with them. He does not despise you; He does not hate you; He does not cast you off because you have been wicked. He knows you well; He has known you all your life; He has seen you and sees you now. He knows just how you are living. All that you do every day, is open to Him. And yet, in spite of all this, He is willing to be your Friend and Savior, to forgive you all and to make you happy.

Do you live in a bad place? Are your neighbors wicked, and are you  wicked? Do men and women get drunk where you live? Do cursing and swearing go on among you continually? Are there many whose lives will not bear looking into? Do decent people keep away from the place? Is it such a neighborhood you live in? Yet the Lord Jesus will visit you even there, if you seek Him. Nay more, He comes there to seek you. He comes among sinners, among the lost, to seek and to save them. When He was upon earth He let publicans and sinners come and sit down with Him and His disciples — and He has not changed since then.

You are very poor perhaps, and often you are hard pressed for a living. Do you ever look at those who are well-clothed and well fed — and wish you were like them? And when you see fancy carriages rolling by with well-dressed ladies and gentlemen sitting at their ease — do you envy them and think how happy they must be? It seems to you perhaps, that there is a vast distance between you and them; but, after all, what are the richest and greatest of them — compared with the Lord Jesus Christ? And He Himself comes to you — as poor and destitute as you are, and offers to be your Friend. If you will take Him at His word — He will be your Friend. He will bless you in your soul, and in your body too. He will make you happy in your mind, and He will take care that you have all you stand in need of for food and clothing. I do not say He will make you rich; but He said Himself that, if we would seek first "the kingdom of God and His righteousness" — then God would give us all that we need besides; and He will be as good as His word.

And as for happiness, do you think good food and fine clothes and a beautiful carriage — can make people happy? Why, that lady whom you see pass in her handsome carriage is not really happy — unless she has the love of Christ in her heart. If she has, then she is happy; but so may you be too, though she sits in a carriage, and you walk. Christ is for rich and for poor, for all who will receive Him.

But perhaps it is not because you are poor that you feel so downcast and hopeless; you have fallen into wicked ways, and have lived in them long, and you feel as if you had got down too low ever to rise again. "No," you think; "it's all very well for some — but I sunk so deeply, and I must go on as I am."

No, that is not true; you need not go on as you are; Jesus Christ would not have you go on so. True, you cannot help yourself — but He can help you. Did He not go among sinners on purpose to help them? Did not He go and sit down among them and keep company with them, as wicked and lost as they were, on purpose to lift them up and save them? And He will do the same for you. You cannot be sunk too low for Him to raise you. You cannot be so wicked and so lost, but that He can save you yet. And He will. The Lord Jesus never turns away from those who seek Him. If He left the glory of Heaven and came and died on the cross out of pity to poor sinners. Do you think that He will turn away from one of them now? 

He never will. He never sent away a poor creature when He was on earth — and He will not now. He cares for you, pities you, loves you. You are sick in soul — He will heal your soul. You are a sinner — He comes to call you to repentance. And if to repentance, then to forgiveness too. For His sake all your sins shall be forgiven. Look at these beautiful words, the words of God: "'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord; 'though your sins are like scarlet — they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson — they shall be as wool'" (Isaiah 1:18). This is what God says to you. May the Holy Spirit show you this, and speak to your heart, and turn you from sin, and bring you to the Friend of sinners!