And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them. And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.
In the New Testament, the church is the bride of Christ. Temple leaders Jesus on two things. First they want to know why Jesus sups with sinners and tax collectors, those who the temple leaders consider their enemies. Jesus responds by telling them that he is urging their repentance, just as sure as he desires it from his accusers. They also want to know why his followers don’t fast, or deprive themselves of food. They don’t get it. Jesus knows that his mission is brief – to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven and they be offered up as a sacrifice. If they had known, believed, or cared, they would have understood.
Daily Prayer: Father, let us live a life of repentance for both the things we knowingly do wrong, and for those things we fail to do. Forgive us.
Beginnings today, lift up our level of awareness to seek you and find you in all that we do. In Your Holy Name I pray Amen.
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