After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5: 27-31 [NIV]
Luke 5: 27-31 [NIV]
Have you ever analysed where you spend most of your time - is it in the company of “the sick” or “the healthy”. If we are in the role of spiritual doctors, our time is better spent in contact with patients rather than in administration or in the canteen chatting with the other doctors!
The words the Pharisees used to Jesus make it seem as if he was accused of fraternizing with “the enemy”. If we consider those who are not yet Christians as the enemy, we have not understood our role properly. For sure, we are supposed to be “in the world” rather than “of the world” but if we are invisible to those who need us then we are not fulfilling the Great Commission (to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all the things Jesus commanded…).
Lord, help us to see opportunities in the contacts we make with those we spend time with – and help us to spend time with those who need us. In Jesus name, Amen.
Dave MacLellan
Read the Bible in a year: Psalm 37:10-20, Numbers 16:36-18:32, Luke 5:17-32
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