Daily Word Of God
Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus was walking on from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
Now while he was at table in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’
When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice. And indeed I came to call not the upright, but sinners.’
Today's Pointers on God's Word
As you read the passage what words, phases or meanings caught your attention?
- By calling Matthew, a tax collector despised by the Jews, Jesus showed what He meant when He said, “I came to call not the upright, but sinners.”
- Do we have a “holier than thou” attitude. we “despise the outcasts/sinners” of our society and/or the people we dislike? Have we been so prejudiced towards such people that we cannot see any good in them?
- We are all sinners, yet God loves us and shows us mercy and kindness. He wants us to do likewise to our neighbours, especially those in need of spiritual care.