Thursday, 6/9/2011
Reading: Mark 2:13-22
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%202&version=NIV
Reflection: Both of these stories show us a group of religious leaders called Pharisees who are doing what one, as a Jew in Jesus' day, would expect. The Pharisees were what we today might call religious seperatists. In other words, they were committed to both religious devotion and radical separation. It was the belief of the Pharisees that if God's people could be completely faithful to the law, the result would be the presence and blessing of God. So, they developed all kinds of rules that were designed both to separate God's people from sinful situations while at the same time cause them to follow God's law. When Jesus shows up, He takes a radically different approach. He replaces religous rules with personal relationship. He sets aside radical separation for the sake of radical love. This puts him on a course destined to bring conflict. As I go about my life, I must evaluate which of these two paths I myself am living out. Do I believe the best way to please God is to separate myself from sinful situations and be religiously devoted to certain rules of living, or am I seeking to be in relationship with those who need Christ as I show them a radical level of love? If I want to live the Jesus' Way, I must choose relationship over religion and love over rules.
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