Reading: Matthew 9:1-13, Acts 13:1-25, Psalm 21, Genesis 46-47

Recall:
The crowd was awestruck, amazed and pleased that God had authorized Jesus to work among them this way. Matthew 9:8 (The Message)

Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riff-raff?”
Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.” Matthew 9:10-13 (The Message)

Reflect:
When God moves, people still respond. We bitch and moan that people are not responding to what we are doing. I think often the problem is that God is not moving in our efforts, that God is not authorizing our work.

10-13 is such a powerful passage. "'I'm after mercy, not religion.' I'm here to invite outsiders not coddle insiders." That's the work of God. Jesus was here for the outsiders. So we are here for the outsiders. The outsiders aren't like us. the outsiders aren't "spiritual" the way I think of spiritual. But spiritual people don't need to hear the good news. The healthy don't need a doctor. The insiders don't need to be coddled.

Respond:
This will take me a while to work through I think. I dream of a Utopia of spiritual people worshipping and working together. But am I just hoping for a group of insiders engaged in mutual coddling? What am I doing to engage the outsiders. What would my ministry look like, what would our church's ministry look like if we were intentionally directed toward outsiders?