Daily Prayer: a resource of Forward Movement

The Forward Day by Day Meditation for January 15, 2021

We post a Forward Day by Day Meditation for every day of the year - and we invite you to consider them and talk about them here. If you'd like to comment, you can log in to Disqus with your Facebook, Twitter, or Google account; just click "Login," or the appropriate logo below. Or, you can sign up for a Disqus account; just use the entry form below, or click the "D" logo to start the process. You can find the past week's Meditations in the box at right (or below, for mobile users), or search for previous entries on the Archives page. You can also listen to the Forward Day by Day podcast anywhere you find podcasts!

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FRIDAY, January 15

Mark 2:16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

One of the most significant concerns I have about Christianity is the way we have domesticated Jesus. In our story from Mark, the Pharisees are incredulous that Jesus eats with outcasts and sinners. Jesus is explicit: These people are who he came to eat with, and this is where he is supposed to be.

The human tendency is to lean toward exclusivity, which is what Jesus comes to change. Jesus is wherever people are hurting and searching and yearning for love and healing, which means Jesus is anywhere and everywhere—in bars and homeless camps and gated communities and exclusive private clubs and in parole board meetings and on the floor of the Stock Exchange.

When we try to make Jesus fit our ideas of who is clean and worthy, we forget that we aren’t always the most acceptable people ourselves.

MOVING FORWARD: What is a line you need to cross to meet Jesus?

PRAY for the Dioceses of Liberia and Southwest Florida (USA)

Ps 16, 17 * 22 | Isaiah 42:(1-9)10-17 | Ephesians 3:1-13 | Mark 2:13-22