OCTOBER 15, 2014
Seeing
Upside Down
Read: Matthew
8:1-4; 9:9-12
Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
—Matthew 9:12
In India I worshiped
among leprosy patients. Most of the medical advances in the treatment of
leprosy came about as a result of missionary doctors, who were willing to live
among patients and risk exposure to the dreaded disease. As a result, churches
thrive in most major leprosy centers. In Myanmar I visited homes for AIDS
orphans, where Christian volunteers try to replace parental affection the
disease has stolen away. The most rousing church services I have attended took
place in Chile and Peru, in the bowels of a federal prison. Among the lowly,
the wretched, the downtrodden—the rejected of this world—God’s kingdom takes
root.
Taking God’s
assignment seriously means that we must learn to look at the world upside down,
as Jesus did. Instead of seeking out people with resources who can do us
favors, we look for people with few resources. Instead of the strong, we find
the weak; instead of the healthy, the sick. Instead of the spiritual, the
sinful. Is not this how God reconciles the world to Himself? “It is not the
healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. . . . I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:12-13 niv).
To gain a new perspective,
look at the world upside down as Jesus did.
We know, Jesus, that
You sought the lowly ones
who were rejected by
others. We want to be like
You. Open our eyes and
show us how.
We long to be used by
You to bless others.
Do you see a needy
world through the eyes of Jesus?
Insight
Jesus dined with the
Pharisees (Luke 7:36; 11:37), perhaps even with a member of the Sanhedrin
(14:1). But Jesus ate so often with social and religious outcasts that He
earned the reputation as “a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Matt.
11:19). He even appointed a tax collector as His apostle. When the
self-righteous Pharisees criticized Him for socializing with those they
considered the outcasts of society, Jesus said, “I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5:32).
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
