14th January 2012 Mark 2:13-17

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners
Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 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.
 
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. 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?”

 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.”

What an important message for us to remember; both that we are more than good enough to be loved and accepted by Jesus AND that when we wish to be a disciple of Christ that does not mean avoiding those whose lives are not palatable to us.

Father you accept us all as we are and you call us all as we are, help us be as accepting of others as you are of us. Amen.