Mark 2:13-17 | Romans 3:21-26
But who is righteous?
The Pharisees ask Jesus what now seems - in 20/20 hindsight - to be a ridiculous question. Few today would not know that Jesus came to hang with tax collectors and sinners. Everyone knows he came to help the sick. We all know the cross is the solution for sinfulness.
But who hasn’t sinned? Who are the righteous of whom Jesus speaks? Doesn’t everyone need the coming of Jesus in their lives?
Mark 2:13-17
Jesus went out beside the lake again. The whole crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he continued along, he saw Levi, Alphaeus’ son, sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Levi got up and followed him.
Jesus sat down to eat at Levi’s house. Many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples. Indeed, many of them had become his followers. When some of the legal experts from among the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, “Why is he eating with sinners and tax collectors?”
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.”
Romans 3:21-26
But now God’s righteousness has been revealed apart from the Law, which is confirmed by the Law and the Prophets. God’s righteousness comes through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who have faith in him. There’s no distinction. All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus. Through his faithfulness, God displayed Jesus as the place of sacrifice where mercy is found by means of his blood. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness in passing over sins that happened before, during the time of God’s patient tolerance. He also did this to demonstrate that he is righteous in the present time, and to treat the one who has faith in Jesus as righteous.
Prayer
God,
We spend a lot of time figuring out who’s sinful and who’s righteous…don’t we? Do you spend that much time on it? Many of us seem to think you do. But I believe you don’t. If the cross showed us anything, it is that your attention is centered on forgiveness beyond anything else, right?
Help my own focus, Lord. Help me to see people and their potential for the Kingdom. Basically, give me your eyes.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.