Slices
Prepare
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?
Bible passage
Jesus calls Levi and eats with sinners
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.’
Explore
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 acknowledgement 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).
Respond
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? Bring that need to Jesus.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 16,17; Matthew 6
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for SU’s Finance Controller, Craig Macpherson. Ask for wisdom as his team develops the systems to allow managers to have the best available financial information to hand, enabling them to effectively plan for future ministry and ensure good stewardship of our resources.