March 31, 2016
Follow Me
It
is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. — Mark 2:17
Read:
Mark
2:13-17
Health clubs offer many different programs for
those who want
to lose weight and stay
healthy. One fitness center caters only to those
who
want to lose at least 50 pounds and
develop a healthy lifestyle. One member
says
that she quit her previous fitness club because
she felt the slim and fit
people were staring at
her and judging her out-of-shape body. She
now works out
5 days a week and is achieving
healthy weight loss in a positive and
welcoming
environment.
Two thousand years
ago, Jesus came to call the spiritually
unfit to follow Him. Levi was one such
person. Jesus saw
him sitting in his tax collector’s booth and said, “Follow
me” (Mark 2:14). His words captured Levi’s heart, and he
followed Jesus. Tax
collectors were often greedy and
dishonest in their dealings and were
considered religiously
unclean. When the religious leaders saw Jesus having
dinner at Levi’s house with other tax collectors, they asked,
“Why does he eat
with tax collectors and sinners?” (2:16).
Jesus replied, “I have not come to
call the righteous, but
sinners” (2:17).
Jesus came to save
sinners, which includes all of us. He loves
us, welcomes us into His presence,
and calls us to follow
Him. As we walk with Him, we grow more and more
spiritually fit.
Read Acts 9:10-19 and see how one man obeyed
God and welcomed
someone who was considered spiritually unfit. What were the
results? How can you reach out to those who need the Savior? How
can you help
your church become a more welcoming place for the
spiritually unfit?
Jesus’ arms of welcome are always open.
INSIGHT:
Mark 2:13–17 and Luke 5:27–32 both tell the
story of Jesus calling a man named Levi to be His disciple. It appears that
Levi was employed by Herod Antipas to collect tolls (travel taxes) from those
outside of his territory who passed through Capernaum. There is almost
universal agreement that the Levi in Mark 2 and Luke 5 is the apostle Matthew,
since Matthew is identified as a tax collector and his own calling mirrors the
calling of Levi (Matt. 9:9-12). After Levi started his new life as an apostle,
he was called by his Greek name—Matthew—which means “gift of God.”
Source: Our Daily Bread 2016
