Mark 2

“I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (v17).  The Old Testament system offered sacrifices for sin, but many of its rules and rituals were simply about separating clean things from unclean, and holy from unholy. Jews didn’t eat with Gentiles as part of this system of separation.  Jesus didn’t come to more perfectly define the difference between holy and non-holy.  He came to rescue sinful humanity.  When He touches us, His holiness makes us pure.

We can recognize righteousness and desire it.  Bu only Jesus can make us new creatures, “holy and blameless” in God’s sight (Eph 1).