Scripture: Matthew 11:18-19
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!”
Thought for the Day: In the second chapter of the book, Made for a Miracle, Michael Slaughter suggests that the second greatest title given to Jesus (behind Son of God) was Friend of Sinners. When I first read his suggestion, I wasn’t too sure if I agreed. Then I spent a few days rereading parts of Luke’s Gospel and all of Matthew’s Gospel, and now I’m not too sure if Friend of Sinners shouldn’t be the greatest. Of course, the title was given in a sort of snarky and demeaning way, but like so often in scripture, the negative becomes the positive while the positive becomes the negative. And as Paul reminds us in Romans 3, “…all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” So to claim Jesus as a friend of sinners is to claim Jesus as a friend of everyone.
Prayer: Thank you, O God, for your incarnation of love. Thank you for befriending me even when I wasn’t much of a friend. Amen.
TODAY
12:15 & 6:45pm
Come to the chapel and pray…
