Jesus hears their criticism and says to them (the questioners and/or the disciples): Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners
.
The metaphor of the physician does not indicate that only a segment of the human race needs a doctor, but that the physician focuses on the weak, who know that they need his services. That is how Jesus came (from heaven) to call us to repentance and belief in the gospel (Mark 1:15).
Whoever calls people to repent and believe, have to address sinners. Jesus does not divide people into two kinds, as the scribes do. But he does say that his behaviour in Levi’s house shows why he came. That he came for all is clear from his public appearance in Israel. He began in the synagogues and is now also seeking the less faithful Jews. Those who follow him with interest, now have to learn that they cannot remain with him unless they repent.
When Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners, everyone can know what his great mission is: to call sinners. If you do not want to be called a sinner, you have no part in that mission. He who justifies himself lacks Jesus’ salvation by grace. Within the bounds of the Jewish people, the contours of the post-Pentecostal preaching become evident (Romans 2:9): the Jew first and also the Greek
(the synagogues first, but also the tax collectors and sinners
).
That Jesus does not place the tax collectors above the scribes is apparent from the verb call: without being called, no person will come; not even a tax collector. Levi is living proof. And so Jesus appeals to all: let no one think himself too healthy for the waiting room of this physician!1
17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”