SKIP TOOMALOO POST - Jesus Saves

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13 NIV)

Jesus did not come for the Pharisees, the Scribes or the Sadducee who believed themselves the righteous standard-bearers of the land. Jesus did not come for the Romans or the Greeks still steeped in their multi-god religions, blinded to the truth of the singular Father of the Heavens. These many righteous persons were too busy finding their own way into paradise to pay attention to the words of some carpenter’s son.

Jesus did not need their many sacrifices or prayers or genuflections. Jesus only wanted their recognition that he might be able to bestow grace to the hearer. A few of the Pharisees did find grace. They were able to overcome the pride of their position to see God working in the life of this young healer and prophet.

The scripture tell us that all men are born sinners in need of a savior. Jesus was every man’s substitute for sin. His message was as much for those thinking themselves righteous as for those knowing they were in sin. The “call” of Jesus was the same for the Pharisee as for the prostitute.

Until the advent of Jesus there was the need for sacrifice. Each sacrifice was that example of Abraham’s words to his son Isaac centuries before that Jehovah would provide “himself” a sacrifice. Men were to easily identify Jesus upon his arrival; understanding each sacrifice spoke of the final act of reconciliation between God and men.

Yet, the Prophet Isaiah wrote many years before the first advent “He had neither form nor comeliness that we would desire him” and he was “despised and rejected of men.”

For all the talk of humanity, of love, of tolerance, of peace, of understanding; Jesus is still despised and rejected of men. Those who follow the scriptures of God are as despised and rejected; the world turning a collective anger against the chosen nation of God and those who have recognized and accepted the promises given to Abraham; the Gentile people of faith.

Jesus came as a healer to save the sick. He came as God to reconcile the sinner.

Some men see this and receive the words of God and the healing of salvation. Others find ways to rebuke the healed and reject the words of the God who gives life.

We who know God must never forget that all men are deserving of God’s message. We must never withhold the words of grace and mercy from the sick and the sinner. Jesus was unafraid to walk among those who stood in their authority as leaders; knowing that they were corrupt and capable of having him killed. He had come to die. He had come to fulfill the law for righteousness.

In the final prophecy of scripture, Jesus speaks with John the Apostle and issues messages to the churches of his age that speaks to the churches of all ages. Each message is a blessing for those things done rightly and a warning against compromising with internal sins. Each message concludes: “He who hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

The Spirit says that Jesus has fulfilled the law and offers salvation to all who believe. What the Spirit has written in the Hebrew/Christian texts collectively known as “The Bible” is the testimony and the truth of the God of Heaven.

The “truth” of God is that Jesus saves.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Originally published in www.useless-knowledge.com under my pseudonym Skip Toomaloo 31 December 2006. Yes, Jesus still saves!