THE NATURE OF NEED
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Opening Prayer
Holy Creator, thank you for the gift of my life in Christ. Help me to use it each day to bring him glory, to show others who he is, and to seek to draw them to him.
Read MARK 2:13—17
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Mark
Mark 2
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.
14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
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.”
Reflect
What need are you conscious of today? How significant is it? What would it mean to you if it were met completely? How have you seen God meet your needs?Two kinds of need are in play in this passage. In the first, those in need are very aware of their circumstances. In the second, those in need are either blind to their need or in denial about its existence. Jesus will directly address both.
Mark condenses a very complex transaction into a few words (v. 14). Tax collectors were despised. Active collaborators with the hated Romans, no respectable Jew would engage with them socially. Yet we find Jesus at a party with this motley crew, seemingly at ease in their company (v. 15). The Pharisees are right to raise their eyebrows in alarm. What is Jesus doing?
This is another miracle of healing. This time, it is not a sick body being repaired but a sick soul. All that is required is an acknowledgment of the disease. The ‘sinners’ rejoice at their healing. The Pharisees seek no treatment because they are aware of no illness. How wrong they are! Jesus’ response to their question is dripping with sarcasm (v. 17).
Apply
Jesus is endlessly patient with all, except hypocrites. Take a moment to reflect on which camp you would have been part of in this incident. Is there a soul need in your life that only Jesus can address? You can bring it to him.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for calling me to follow you. Only you can meet the deepest needs of my heart; no one loves me as you do.
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