How can a doctor treat a patient if he is not with him? How could you set things in order if you aren’t there? Jesus was often criticized because he associated with sinners. He justified his actions by saying, “They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32). That’s why he ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners. After all, how can a physician be effective if he has no contact with his patients? He must see, touch, and examine the sick if he is to diagnose their ills and prescribe a cure. It may be unpleasant work at times but the doctor must be in contact with disease if he is to cure it.
