Week 3 – Weekend

“When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’”

Reading

Mark 2.13-22

Jesus Calls Levi

Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

And as he sat at dinner[b] in Levi’s house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

The Question about Fasting

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’

Reflection

There is a paradox at the heart of doing justice. To do justice needs passion, fire, a keen sense of injustice and compassion for those who suffer. Yet deep passion easily leads to new forms of injustice, as those who disagree or lag behind are excluded, criticised and caricatured as uncaring or evil.

One answer is to understand ourselves as part of this fellowship of grace, which prevents us ever thinking of ourselves as superior. Another is to follow the model of Jesus. As sin was often treated as contagious, ‘good’ people refused to eat with ‘sinners’. Human beings have a tendency to separate themselves from those whose words, lifestyles or beliefs they despise or disagree with. Yet Jesus did the exact opposite. Instead of treating sin as contagious, he practised contagious holiness: a love so profound, that it inevitably drew the other into new life and relationship.

Prayer

Holy God, we are both inspired and fearful before your holiness; may you transform our hearts, that we become people whose holiness and justice are expressed in contagious love and grace. Amen

Today’s family challenge

Pass on some kindness this Mothering Sunday weekend

Why not make a card to say ‘thank you’ to someone who helps you?