Calling sinners
Pray
Begin with prayer, opening your heart to His Word and Spirit.
Read Mark 2:13-17
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
As a tax collector, Levi had a job that earned him lots of money. However, he was also seen as a traitor to his own people since he was collecting taxes for the Romans. The man chose to leave everything and walk in Jesus’ footsteps. Jesus again defied convention and incurred the disapproval of the Pharisees by having dinner in his house with many tax collectors and sinners. While the Pharisees were focused on strict adherence to the law, Jesus was focused on those in need of his saving grace.
Closing prayer
Father, give to us the mind of Christ as we seek to serve you in this multi-cultural world. Amen.