Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Mark 2:13-17 (NIV)
Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 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. 15 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. 16 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?” 17 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.”
Have you ever resented God calling a particular person?
Holy God, I am a sinner, I have hurt people, I have said and done things that have hurt You. I am so very sorry. You forgave me and took those things that I did to the cross so that I could be made clean. You asked me to follow You and to serve You and my life has been changed forever. You came for us sinners. You do amazing things in people’s hearts and lives when they hear Your call. Forgive me when I judge people and assume that they are too far into sin to be saved. You transformed my life, why would I doubt that You could transform someone else? You have called thieves, murderers, adulterers, addicts, abusers, liars, and the selfish and prideful to hear Your voice, to accept Your grace and forgiveness, and to follow You. No sin is too great when we repent and accept Your grace. And when we do that, it is surprising how our lives are transformed. Your life-changing message is about, forgiveness and it is especially good news for sinners who are lost in their sin. You don’t love the sin, You love the sinner. Help me to do the same. I am called to share Your love and message of forgiveness to all people. I trust that the seeds of love, acceptance, and forgiveness will grow in the hearts of those You call, no matter what their background or sin has been, and that You give them the power to break the chains of their sins. I pray that You use me and my church to be a conduit for Your Holy Spirit to transform lives. Thank you for loving me, for dying for me, and for calling for me to be Your child. Thank you that I have been transformed so that I am able to proclaim the good news of forgiveness to others. May I be filled with compassion as I pray for the sick and seek to see people set free from their sins. Amen