In today's Gospel Jesus compares Himself to a physician (Mk 2: 13-17). When He is asked why He hangs out with "tax collectors and sinners," He says: "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." In other words, I'm with the people that I am with because they are the sick ones, the ones who need me to be their doctor. That image of Jesus as a doctor tending to someone who is sick works well on many levels. First of all, we all get sick sometimes, so when Jesus is talking about caring for the sick, as opposed to the "righteous," He isn't saying that there are people who will never need His care. He's just saying that, as is the case of a doctor, Jesus will need to care for each of us from time to time, since we all sin, but sometimes some of us need the doctor more than others of us. We have times where we're in a good spot spiritually-- in good health, so to speak-- and need less doctoring than we do in those rough patches. The thing I like the best about the analogy, though, is the fact that it reminds us that we all have different situations-- different symptoms and different diseases-- and Jesus, like a good physician, assesses the facts and circumstances of our life on an individual basis. Sometimes it seems like the Church can be all about a "one size fits all" set of rules, with bright, clear lines. That makes things simple, but that's not how Jesus the good physician behaves. He wants to know all about our situation-- like a doctor taking a patient's medical history-- before reaching a judgment about our case. As we work on being an attractive home for sinners-- a place where the "tax collectors and sinners" want to hang out, we might keep that in mind. The more we can walk with people, understand their situations, appreciate what is possible, and direct them lovingly towards an appreciation of God's merciful love, the more we're acting like Jesus. The more we simply want to quote rules, and cast people out, the more we're not doctoring at all-- we're just consulting the internet and parroting something we found there (and we all know how well that goes). The whole debate about what to do in the case of folks who are divorced and remarried (without an annulment) and who want to receive communion, comes down to this kind of back and forth. Yes, we know there are rules and, according to the rules, divorce and remarriage is not allowed. But, don't we need to consider the facts of each situation, and judge on a case-by-case basis what the right remedy might be? After all, that's what a good physician would do. And Jesus certainly is a good physician.