Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Today’s Reading  |  Mark 2:16-17
When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (NRSV)

Reflection
“When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ 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.’”

This verse speaks so much to the simple truth of God. Sickness can be applied loosely to so much in our lives. Yes, there are the times I am really physically sick, but more challenging are the times when sickness comes to me during times of trouble and confusion. The thing that I find I struggle with most, sometimes, is that ability to let go of uncertainty. I am by nature a little bit of a worrier. Growing up I used to be so much of a people pleaser that at times it exhausted me and did make me “sick.” I remember one time in high school I over thought something so much, something so silly now that I look back on it, that I managed to get a headache. I was stressing over getting a good seat at our high school basketball state championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, which in high school, sadly, felt like the biggest deal in the whole world. I was “unhealthy” then, and I still have “unhealthy” moments in my life now, but God comes to comfort us when we are at are best and our worst. God knows our sins, yet God sits at that table with us, wanting to eat with us and be with us through it all.

As this new year is underway, I hope we all can approach God’s table never too ashamed to sit down with God and let him be our doctor.

Prayer
Lord, help me day by day to always understand the power of your love, so in times of great sickness I might know that I may always call on you. Amen.

Written by Ashley Elskus, Director, Center for Life and Learning

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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