The Called Ones.

"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

-Jesus in Mark 2:17, esv

Over the course of February, I've sort of been taking some time to just read through the four gospels, taking some time to try my best to re-familiarize myself with the story of Jesus; who He is, what He cared about, that sort of thing. I just started Mark a few days ago, and out of the first four chapters that I read, this was the verse that stuck out to me.

In this particular situation, Jesus has just asked Matthew, the heathen, cheating, scoundrel tax collector to be one of His disciples. Matthew invites Jesus to come and have dinner at his home, and invites some of his sinner friends to join them. The Pharisees had a real problem with that, and inquired why Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. Mark 2:17 was His response.

To me, this was a great reminder that the moment I think I am perfect, the moment I think I've got it together and I've got it all figured out that I am outside of the people Jesus came to save. Jesus didn't come to save people who feel like they've got it all together. He didn't come to save people who think they're pretty righteous. He came to save people that freely admit they have faults... who freely admit they have problems, they have sin, they have dirt, they have doubts, they have all the stuff that people like me so often turn our noses up at.

Jesus came to save people who are sinners, not the ones who think they have it all together.

May we all be reminded that we are all broken, messed up people who need Jesus.