When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?" And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:16-17 NAS95)
The scribes and Pharisees considered themselves to be righteous. They based this on their keeping of the Law of Moses along with other laws/traditions designed to help them better keep the Mosaic Law. Two points concerning this self-righteousness. One, the scribes and Pharisees really didn’t keep the Mosaic Law perfectly. No one could. Two, their self-righteousness excluded them from Jesus’ call to sinners.
As long as they saw themselves as righteous, they remained blinded to the truth. Jesus came to call sinners. A critical part of salvation is the need to repent. To repent you must know your guilt. You must know you are a sinner condemned unclean.
A characteristic of the self-righteous is to compare oneself to others. The scribes and Pharisees compared themselves to the tax collectors and sinners. Had they compared themselves to the perfection of the Law, they would have seen their sin as heinous as others.
Believers should beware when they begin to compare their righteousness to other believers. This is a sign that self-righteousness is creeping into the heart. Remember, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-7 NAS95)
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