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Morning Devotion for the Season After Pentecost

July 19, 2023

The Invitatory

The mercy of the Lord is everlasting: O come, let us adore him.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Reading: Mark 2:13-22

Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’

Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones

I marvel at how deep seated the human need is to differentiate one human from another and then to develop values and behaviors, then to institutionalize them both to distinguish one person/group from another, and then to demean, even demonize the “others.” How is it that we can overlook how fundamentally alike we all are? How is it we find comfort in clinging to what we feel distinguishes us from the “other”? Where is the curiosity to learn something new, the excitement of experiencing something other than the familiar, the discovery of another perspective or practice that reveals another layer of life. What about the joy of simply reveling in all that life and people have to offer? It is amazing to me that this establishment of borders among human beings is well established in earliest times in human history and in our social DNA. Social scientists call this borders “social borders.” These “social borders” are historically and socially constructed and result from a wide range of factors such as cultural differences, absence of connecting infrastructure, or even rivalry and prejudice. Many existing ‘social borders’ are well known as they are anchored in the history of nation-building or in particular regional developments.

Such is the case in the first part of the selected portion of the reading from Mark. The Jews have come to regard tax collectors. among the most notorious sinners and were particularly despised in Israel. They were viewed as collaborators with the Roman occupiers, who placed a heavy tax burden on the people. Because they dealt with Gentiles and Gentile money, they were considered unclean. They were also known to be greedy. The “scribes of the Pharisees” are keeping a wary eye on Jesus. They are scandalized by Jesus’ behavior, for this meal in which he is partaking is certainly not kosher. Moreover, by eating with such folk, he may be seen to approve of their “lifestyle.”

While the scribes and Pharisees focus on separating themselves from sinners and keeping themselves ritually pure, Jesus shatters all boundaries between clean and unclean, righteous and sinners. He does so not just to be a dissident, but because that is the only way to heal the sick and bring back the lost. From the very beginning, Jesus’ ministry shatters boundaries. He eats with the unclean, heals on the Sabbath, touches lepers, and even claims divine authority to forgive sins. God’s invasion of this world in Jesus is resisted by those who hold power, those whose lives are dedicated to keeping boundaries intact. Yet for the leper who is cleansed, for the paralytic who is healed, for the sinner who is forgiven and welcomed to the table, God’s invasion in Jesus is welcomed as a mission of liberation, healing, and life. We are challenged is to discern both the threat and the promise in this passage. Jesus may very well be breaking down boundaries that we are desperately trying to maintain. Yet this boundary-smashing Jesus is our only hope of deliverance from all that holds us captive, making us less than we could be.

For the Diversity of Races and Culture

O God, who created all peoples in your image, we thank you for the wonderful diversity or races and cultures in this world. Enrich our lives by ever-widening circles of fellowship, and show us your presence in those who differ most from us, until our knowledge of your love is made perfect in our love for all your children, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.