Who's Allowed In? (Friday Devotional)

When the scribes and 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?” When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

- Mark 2:16-17

Author Brennan Manning tells a story about a man whose life was dominated by sin until, in a moment of clarity and repentance, he begged God for forgiveness and a fresh start. In an effort to be obedient, the man joined his local church the next Sunday, where he was initially welcomed with excitement by the congregation.

However, it only took a few days for the church to start hearing stories about its newest member. Horrified by the tales of his sinful exploits, the church’s leaders began to worry that allowing such a man to be an official member of the church would stain the institution’s reputation—and by extension, the reputation of its most upstanding members. So before week’s end, the church’s leaders convened and voted to revoke the man’s membership.

Perplexed and angered by the church’s decision, the man went straight to God with his grievances, shouting to heaven that he wanted an audience with the Lord. To his amazement, God responded: “What is it, my son?”

“They won’t let me in, Lord,” said the man, his eyes wet with tears.

“What are you complaining about?” asked the Lord. “They won’t let me in either.”

In the story, it is the man, not the church, who understands what the gospel of Jesus Christ is: not comfort for the comfortable or respect for the respectable, but medicine for the sick. As Jesus himself said, he came “to call not the righteous but sinners.”

Sometimes we lose sight of that and get preoccupied with maintaining what we’ve built instead of letting God create something new. But a gospel which is not good news to the poor, freedom to the captives, and open arms to the oppressed is no gospel at all. Jesus did not come to preserve spotless reputations; he came to heal what was broken and save what was lost. If we are to follow him, we must do the same.