⁹ As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.

¹⁰ Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. ¹¹ But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”

¹² When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” ¹³ Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Matthew 9:9-13

Dear God, after I read this passage this morning, I remembered a conversation I had with a friend on Tuesday. I hadn’t thought about it since then, but now I remember. He asked if I would join him in prison ministry at a state prison about an hour and a half from here several times a year. My initial reaction was, No. No, I don’t want to do that. I told him I would consider it and pray about it, but then it left my mind as soon as he left and I have thought about it in three days. But here I am. I’m praying to you. I’m thinking about it. I suppose this is where I will live up to my word with him and “think and pray about it.”

Jesus certainly didn’t mind sitting with people of questionable repute. In fact, he was seemingly quite comfortable with them. He loved them. He wanted the best for them. He called on them to change and follow you, to be sure, but he didn’t insist on that before he came to them. In fact, a lot of people got help from him without ever having asked for forgiveness. I’m thinking the woman caught in adultery for one. I’m thinking about the man lowered through the roof. Jesus forgave without them ever asking him to. Very interesting.

Father, help me to really consider this invitation from my friend. Help me to completely hear from you what you want me to do. Are you calling me to this? Are you not calling me to this? I don’t know. But I know I want to really hear you on this one. There is so much need in the world. I know I don’t have to solve all of it, but I certainly want to use my life to touch those you are calling me to touch. Help me to know what that is.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen