Luke 5:27-35 Come To Jesus In Spirit And In Truth

After that He went out and noticed a tax collector namedLevi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him. And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “ It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” And they said to Him, “ The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”

Jesus’ opponents live their lives trying to please God by the work of their hands, when God cannot be pleased in this way. They declare their own self-righteousness by declaring their discipline of fasting and contrast that with the follower’s of Jesus who do not fast. They feel that they can know the condition of one’s heart based on that. Jesus reminds his adversary that He and His bride (His followers) have a relationship based on heart and He desires not their fasting while He is with them. But the days are coming when Jesus will be removed by way of the Cross and then His followers will sacrifice.

Lord Jesus, it is by grace I am saved and not by my work. By Your grace, my sins have been set aside and remembered no more. Let those who seek you, seek you in spirit and in truth, loving you instead of trying to please you. This is my hope for today Amen