Mark 2:13-17 (NIVUK)
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 those who are ill. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’
I’m glad that Jesus came not for people like himself, but for people like me. I’m not a great person. I’m self-centred, prejudiced and would rather have an easy and quiet life than do what I know I ought to. I’m not like Jesus, and if he came just for people like me, that would count me out.
Thank you for your compassion and ability to look beyond yourself and your needs, to see people like me, like us. Spirit, help us to become a bit more like him. Help us to see the needs of others and begin to learn to love them too.
Image used with permission by Bible Society Australia – The Wild Bible
Leave a Reply