THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 2:13-17
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17)
Tax collectors were one of the kinds of people that the religious people avoided.
Also prostitutes, lepers, zealots, Samaritans, Roman soldiers, non-practicing Jews.
Who are the kinds of people that Christians avoid today?
Muslims, LGBQT, Immigrants, Homeless, Prostitutes, AIDS patients, non-church-goers?
Jesus not only socializes with them, and their friends, He calls them to join Him.
He seems to be quite open to letting people join Him — everyone was welcome.
It was only after time spent with Jesus that some decided to stop following (John 6:66)
I once heard someone say the church has reversed this: we make it hard to join, but once in always in.
We first demand that people change, that people get their lives in order, then they can join.
But how can they change unless they spend time with Jesus.
Sinners were drawn to Jesus, and learned through their time with Him what it meant to follow.
Sinners are often repulsed by Christians, and never get to spend time with Jesus with them.
How many ‘sinners’ do you socialize with (not the generic, “we’re all sinners” kind).
How many Muslims, LGBQT, Immigrants, Homeless, Prostitutes, AIDS patients, non-church-goers?
This is where Jesus spent His time, this is where His heart was, this is who he came for.
Are we really following Him, if we do not go where He goes, and do what He does?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, instead of hiding in our bubbles waiting for people to come to us, motivate us to go where You are, where the people are that You came for, sinners like me.
A helpful clarification, you do not need to TRY to become a sinner, this comes quite naturally, which is Jesus’ point. The Pharisees problem is that they do not realize they are the sinners Jesus came for too. They thought they could TRY to become righteous, which is impossible. The only way we become ‘right’ or ‘righteous’ is by coming to Jesus just as we are, and He declares us righteous by faith. From that point on we work with Him to grow into that new identity.
Jesus looks at us with eyes of love, sees our creation worth buried beneath our moral filth. He sees through all our efforts to make ourselves look better. He welcomes us as we are by grace, and then helps us become who we were meant to be (also by grace). All that He asks is that we stop pretending, stop acting as if we are better than we are. He can only help us, if we admit we need help.
On calling Levi, I wonder how much detail was provided to Levi, when Jesus asked Levi to follow Him. I would like to think it was more than “Follow Me”. In any case, Levi did follow Jesus, and introduced Jesus to his friends. The saying that comes next is kind of hard to put into clear thought,as this is kind of circular thinking for me. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.” Yet, what do I try to do? Do I try to become a sinner so that God will call me? Not intentionally. We are urged to become righteous….. Do you see where I am going with this?