13Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. 14As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.
15Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"
17When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
In the previous passage, there was such a crowd at the house that people couldn't even get to the door. Was it unfair that the 4 men broke through the line by lowering their friend through the roof? There were others outside who probably wanted to see Jesus just as badly. But Jesus went out by the sea and all the multitude came with. So, yes, everyone got a chance to see Jesus and hear him preach. So no, there was no harm done to those who waited outside for Jesus when the friends of the paralytic worked their way to the front.
This to me is another lesson in judging others. Here Jesus called a tax collector to follow him. As you can see, the scribes and Pharisees lumped tax collectors in the same category as sinners. Jesus does not lump people into categories. He sees worth in every individual and asks the individual to follow him, regardless of their background or past history. Can we do the same? Can we see everyone as an individual? Can we recognize the special gifts each person has to offer and address those gifts while putting aside our biases regarding what we might view as their shortcomings?
Also, here the scribes and Pharisees are quick to judge Jesus' actions. What they see is Jesus socializing with an unfavorable crowd. They quickly judge his behavior as inappropriate. They do not have a full realization of what Jesus is about. Though once they are given Jesus' explanation, of course, Jesus is doing a very appropriate thing. Are we quick to judge what we see others doing? We cannot possibly know what they are really about. The actions we see may be bad as we could have assumed, but then it could also be good but we don't recognize it. The same could easily be true when we see someone doing what we think is good. Without really knowing what they are about, we cannot and should not judge other's actions. However, God does know the heart of everyone. He will know whether what they do is good or bad. We should leave any judgment up to the One who knows. Besides, even if God judges what they do as bad, if they repent and ask for forgiveness, it will be given. Then our judgment of that person would also need to change. We are not good at it, we cannot change our opinions very easily, we have no business being in the judging business. Leave it to God.
Finally, I really love Jesus' statement that "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." He didn't come for his own glory, but He came because He was needed. I can count on Jesus when I need him. He came to heal us of our sickness, our problems with sin. He knows what my problems are and will deal with them at the root of the cause. He wants to hear me. Even though I am a sinner, He has time for me. He wants me to get better, to repent. What a loving God to do all this for me!