Monday after the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 16, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. Mark 2:13-17 (NKJV)
2:13 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
15 Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Devotion
Most of the time people don’t go to a doctor unless they know something is wrong and see the need for medical treatment. The same is true for our lost and sinful condition. We don’t see our need for a Savior unless we first know our utter sinfulness and the wrath of God against sin. As a person who doesn’t realize cancer is growing and spreading in his body does not go to the doctor, so we, when we don’t realize our sinfulness and the punishment we justly deserve, do not see our need for Jesus Christ and His atonement.
This is where the preaching of God’s Law comes in—it shows us what God requires and shows us our sin, that we do not measure up to what God demands. It also reveals to us the punishment for sin—death and eternal condemnation!
Jesus calls sinners to turn from their sinful ways to Him in faith. Through the preaching of the Law, He reveals our sin; but, through the preaching of the Gospel, He promises forgiveness and everlasting life to those who look in faith to Him and His cross. Jesus came into this world to save sinners, and we all qualify for we all have sinned. But, before we see our need to repent and trust in Christ, we need to see that we are sick with sin and cannot save ourselves.
Prayer: Almighty and Everlasting God, Who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of Thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
