SCRIPTURE: Mark (NIV) 2:16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
OBSERVATION: The Pharisees prided themselves on keeping the law. They talked the part and they dressed the part. It would not be difficult to recognize them on the streets of Jerusalem.
The people with whom Jesus was eating were just “tax collectors and sinners.” Religious people need not waste their time. Oh…, but to Jesus…, they were so much more! He would die for these people. They were important to him! They were valuable. Jesus was living out His mission.
APPLICATION: I need to be careful not to treat people going through hard times, or who disagree with me, as though they have no value. They need Jesus and Jesus died for them. I need to love them like Jesus loves them. How unlike Jesus I am to ignore them or push them away.
PRAYER: Lord, people going through hard times need You. Love them through me. Help me to see them as you see them. Through my life, may people be drawn to you and not repelled from you. Amen.
Pastor Leon
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