Morning Musing: Mark 2:17

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“When Jesus heard this, he told them, ‘It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Who needs Jesus? The “right” answer to that question (at least as far as Jesus’ followers are concerned) is everyone. But I want to focus on a different angle of it with you this morning. Focus on the word “need” there with me for a few minutes. If you need something, by definition, that implies you don’t have it and can’t get along without it. With this slight shift in focus, then, let’s ask it again: Who needs Jesus? Let’s talk about it.

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Knocking Down Walls

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We’ve finally reached the end of this journey. We’ve seen the church rise up, thrive through adversity, stand firm in the face of some pretty intense internal challenges, and finally hit its stride here in the most exciting story of all with a church business meeting. Wait…a church business meeting? How could that be exciting? Because this one would set the tone for how the church working well would approach ministry for the rest of its history. You’ve never seen such an exciting business meeting before. Read on to find out what happened and what it means for us.

Knocking Down Walls

Have you ever seen the gameshow Wipeout? It is a favorite in our household. If you’ve never seen it, the basic premise is that a group of pretty average folks are invited to take part in an insane series of obstacle courses. Each course is designed for the contestants to fail and in increasingly embarrassing ways. The bigger the wipeouts, the better the laughs. 

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Digging in Deeper: Mark 2:16-17

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“When the scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, he told them, ‘It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever joined a club? Most people have at some point in their lives. Whether it was a school club or a civic club or a sports club, the options are nearly limitless. The thing about a club, though, is that it is a necessarily exclusionary organization. If you have a club in which literally anyone can claim membership, you don’t really have a club at all. You have the human race. Now, a club may have an open membership wherein anyone can join versus a closed, invitation-only membership, but even in the case of an open membership, you can only join if you are willing to abide by the rules of membership. In this story both the Pharisees and Jesus thought about the kingdom of God in terms of being a club. Their approach to membership, though, is where they differed.

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Digging in Deeper: Mark 2:13-14

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“Jesus went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. Then, passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the toll booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me,’ and he got up and followed him.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I love a good whodunit story. It’s always fun to me to spend a movie or book trying to figure out which character committed the crime. The best of these stories manage to keep you guessing until the very end. When the final revelation comes, if it’s done well, your first reaction is shock: “I can’t believe that was the one who did it!” But then, when you’ve had a bit more time to think through the details of the story a second thought follows soon in the wake of the first: “Well, of course, that’s who did it. Nothing else makes any sense.” This next story in Mark’s Gospel isn’t a whodunit, but it does have a surprise twist to it that is just as shocking as any great whodunit has.

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Morning Musing: Mark 2:8

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“Right away Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, ‘Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever had someone read your mind? There are some mentalists (the branch of magic that deals with mind-reading and such) who specialize in being able to guess and even predict what someone is thinking. The best of these can put on pretty amazing shows. But at the end of the day, talented mentalists are just folks who have a knack for understanding people, have studied a fair bit of human psychology, and are good at predicting patterns based on quick, careful observations. No one really has access to what’s going on inside your head except you. Oh, and Jesus.

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