Monday, May 2
I am a Pharisee
Scripture: 1 Samuel 3-4, Mark 2
Mark 2:15–17 While he was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who were following him. 16 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?”
17 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.”
Observation
The Pharisees were the most pious, religious people in Israel. They kept the Jewish Law and kept away from those who didn’t. In fact, the name “Pharisee” means “to separate.” That’s what they did. They kept separate from the common people and “sinners” in order to maintain their religious identity and purity. They didn’t want to be contaminated by contact with the irreligious.
Jesus was just the opposite. He attracted and welcomed the irreligious, sinners, and tax-collectors (the most unclean of all). In fact, Jesus attracted many of these disreputable people, and befriended them (sharing a meal was a sign of friendship).
When the Pharisees objected to the company Jesus kept, He responded that it’s not the well who need a doctor, but the sick, and so He came to call sinners, not the righteous. Jesus didn’t mean that the Pharisees were well or righteous, only that they didn’t recognize their particular sickness. You won’t seek a doctor if you don’t believe you’re sick.
Application
Sometimes I feel like a Pharisee—a separatist. My friends love Jesus. Almost all of the people that I spend time with are Christians. I have very few non-Christian friends. I’m certainly not having dinners with lots of irreligious people. It’s not that I intentionally separate myself to stay pure; it’s that my social orbits are mostly Christian.
Jesus came to call sinners, and I’m following Him, yet I spend very little time with sinners (irreligious people who are far from God).
Because my work world is the church, I need to be very intentional about finding ways to build redemptive relationships with people who are still far from God. I also need to be intentional about resisting the natural religious attraction to my tribe, to hang out only with those who are like me.
Jesus brought good news to those far from God; how can I do the same? One thing: renew my commitment to a weekly MAD meeting (Make A Disciple—a meeting with someone far from God).
Prayer: Lord, this morning I feel how different I am from You in this regard, and I’m asking for Your help to change and be more like Jesus, who moved toward the lost, not away from them.