PrintToday's "Moment With Mark" (32) - Discrimination
14 December, 2012
Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that gathered around him. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax-collection booth. "Come, be my disciple," Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him" (Mark 2:13-14)
I wonder how Peter, Andrew, James and John felt about that unilateral decision of Jesus? To call a tax-collector to join them in the school of discipleship seems to stretch the friendship right from the start. Here were 4 professional fishermen being asked to welcome a tax-collector into their ranks. Since fishing was a 'noble' occupation and tax-collectors were despised, tension in the ranks must surely have been there to some degree. Matthew has joined the school of disciples.
Think about your fellow disciples in your church community. There are some who are "your kind of people". They dress like you, talk like you, think like you and believe like you. But there are others, aren't there, who are very different to you in almost every way. The way they live out their Christian faith and relate to you (and your kind of people) in ways that irk you, irritate you and unsettle you when they are around. Why would Jesus chose them?
Then, as if to make an awkward situati0n even more tense, these four plus Jesus receive an invitation and the tension level now threatens to go through the roof! More about that tomorrow
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