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I want to get this out of the way and thank all of you for your cards and condolences. We had to have our dog put down this past week. He had a thousand-letter disease take him very quickly. I’m so thankful for the folks at Rocky Mountain Small Animal Hospital for all they tried to do for our Biscuit. They couldn’t have been better. But I wonder what kind of vet they would have been if they had said, “You know, we only take care of dogs that are well. You’ll have to find somewhere else.” I know they wouldn’t have been our vet ever.

Back in 2009, my wife Cindy was diagnosed with lupus. And since then, two of our children have been diagnosed with some rheumatoid matters–along with the regular illness that come across us all. What would we do if we called our doctors to tell them about our issues, only to be told, “You know, we only take well people here–we can’t take being around sick people. You’ll have to go elsewhere.” Well, they wouldn’t have been our doctors either.

On the other side of the coin, there are those who are sick but do not believe they are sick. That’s why some do not go to the doctor because if they go, they might find out they have something. So, they would rather believe they are well–until it’s too late.

Mark 2:17 quotes Jesus saying, “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 Pharisees (a word that means separated) had developed a complex system to determine those who are righteous and those who are “sinners.” Their goal was to stay righteous and not be around those contagious sinners who would mess with their level of self-righteousness. So, even as they were the religious leaders, they would only go to those who were well–all the while missing out on the sickness of their own hearts.