Photo by Vaishakh pillai on Unsplash

Matthew 9:10–17

As Jesus sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

*       *       *       *       *       *       *

Jesus had such a way of responding to those who were trying to catch him in sin! He didn’t respond defensively, he simply told his truth. Jesus was loving; his responses invited the listeners to consider other ways to see things. Most likely those who confronted him were left speechless, however, there was an opening to a new understanding.

Some years ago, I took a short series of video lectures about A Course in Miracles from Marianne Williamson. The teaching that stood out and is still one I aspire to always invoke is that whenever there is ambiguity, one should always give the other person the benefit of the doubt. She said that “we have to exercise that muscle.” By doing so we are saved from building up negative thoughts about the person. There are still times when I have to be mindful about that.

Jesus asks us to follow him. Not where, but how. We are called to love everyone.

~ Gerti Reagan Garner