When Jesus heard it, he said unto them,
They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
By those who are well he means those being made righteous. Sinners are compared to those who are ill. Let the sick man, then, not presume on his own strength, because “he shall not be saved by his great strength.” The strength of selfdeceivers is not that strength that well people enjoy, but like those in delirium. They are like those out of their minds, who imagine themselves in such good health that they do not consult a physician, and even fall upon him with blows as if he were an intruder! In the same way, these delirious people, with their mad pride, fall upon Christ with blows, so to speak, because they have felt no need of his kindly help to those who seek to be just according to the prescriptions of the law. Let them, then, put away this madness. Let them understand, as far as they are able, that they have free will, and that they are called not to despise the Lord’s help with a proud heart, but to call upon him with a contrite heart. The free will then will be free in proporti...
Pray for us that we may be saved by that salvation of which it is said: “They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill; for I am not come to call the just but sinners.” Pray, then, for us that we may be made upright. This is indeed something which one cannot do unless he knows and wishes it; and he will become so as constantly as he wishes it fully—but it will not be through his own effort that he is able, unless he is healed and helped by the grace of the Spirit. Letter , To Anastasius.
After that the Lord taught at Capernaum, He went to the sea, that He might not only set in order the life ofmen in towns, but also might preach the Gospel of the kingdom to those who dwelt near the sea, and might teach them to despise the restless motions of those things which pass away like the waves of the sea, and to overcome them bythe firmness of faith. Wherefore it is said, “And He went forth again to the sea, and all the multitude”.
in Marc., 11: So also the same person is called Levi and Mat thew; but Luke and Mark, on account of their reverence and the honour of the Evangelist, are unwilling to put the common name, while Mat thew is a just accuser of himself, and calls himself Mat thew and publican. He wishes to show to his hearers that no one who is converted should despair of his salvation, since he himself was suddenly changed from a publican into an Apostle.
Now to follow is to imitate, and therefore in order to imitate the poverty of Christ, in the feeling of his soul eve...
They who use the knife or heat to remove certain unnatural growths in the body, such as cysts or warts, do not bring to the person they are serving a method of healing that is painless, though certainly they apply the knife without any intention of injuring the patient. Similarly whatever material excrescences are hardening on our souls, which have been made carnal by collusion with inordinate passions, will be, in the day of the judgment, cut and scraped away by the ineffable wisdom and power of him who, as the Gospel says, “healed those that were sick.” For as he says, “they who are well have no need of the physician, but they that are sick.” Just as the excision of the wart gives a sharp pain to the skin of the body, so then must there be some anguish in the recovering soul which has had a strong bent to evil.
What competent doctor, when asked to cure a sick person, would simply follow the desires of the patient, and not act in accordance with the requirements of good medicine? The Lord himself testified that he came as the physician of the sick, saying, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” How, then, are the sick to be made strong? How are sinners to repent? Is it by merely holding fast to what they are presently doing? Or, on the contrary, by undergoing a great change and reversal of their previous behavior, by which they had brought upon themselves serious illness and many sins? Ignorance, the mother of intractability, is driven out by knowing the truth. Therefore the Lord imparted knowledge of the truth to his disciples, by which he cured those who were suffering, and restrained sinners from sin. So he did not speak to them in accordance with their previous assumptions, nor answer according to the presump...
Thus then Levi, which means Appointed, followed from the custom-house of human affairs, the Word, Who says, "He who doth not quit all that he has, cannot be My disciple.”
There are two ways of interpreting the saying “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” The first is by analogy with the accompanying phrase: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” The other way is to put a more literal construction on the statement, like this: Since no one is perfectly righteous, Christ has not come to call those who are not there, but the multitudes of sinners who are there, with whom the world is filled, remembering the Psalm which says “Help, O Lord, for there is no longer any one who is godly.”
Now this is the same publican whois named by all the Evangelists; Matthew by Matthew; simply Levi by Luke; and Levi, the son of Alphaeus, by Mark; for he was the son of Alphaeus. And you may find persons with two names in other parts of Scripture; as Moses’ father inlaw is sometimes called Jethro, sometimes Raguel.
And if it is the flesh that is the sinner, then on its account alone did the Saviour come, as He says, "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Or else, after the miracle, He goes to the sea, as if wishing to be alone, but the crowd runs to Him again, that thou mightest learn, that the more thou fliest from glory, the more she herself pursues thee; but if thou followest her, she will fly from thee. The Lord passing on from thence called Matthew. Wherefore there follows, “And as He passedby, He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting”.
For he sat at the receipt of custom, either, as is often done, exacting from some, or making up accounts, or doing some actions of that sort, which publicans are wont to do in their abodes, yea this man, who was raised on high from this state of life that hemight leave all things and follow Christ. Wherefore it goes on, “And He saith to him, Follow Me”.
But he who used to plot against others becomes so benevolent, that he invites many persons to eat withhim.Wherefore it goes on: “And it came to pass, that as Jesus sat at meat in his house.”.
But the Pharisees blame this, making themselves pure. Wh...
