Stress Test Devotional April 20
April 20, 2024
MATTHEW 9:11 | When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Matthew was not an isolated case in Jesus’ ministry. He was part of a pattern. A pattern that was so unusual it discredited Jesus as a possible Messiah in the eyes of the authorities. Rabbis avoided sinners and reprobates and traitorous tax collectors. They never had table fellowship with them and certainly never ever invited them to be friends and followers.
Surely this meant Jesus was not serious about law following and obedience and that he was unconcerned about holiness? What else could onlookers conclude?
The other possibility is that he was zealous for holiness but understood it differently. Jesus redefined holiness, not as separation but as connection with the struggling; not as purity, apart from the wayward, but as involvement and engagement with them.
What does holiness look like to you?
How do you seek it?
