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As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “my daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment. When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all the region.

 

In each of these stories, an encounter with Jesus drastically changed the direction of these people’s lives. Matthew went from a despised tax collector to a disciple and gospel writer. The woman who bled for 12 years had been an outcast and unclean because of her affliction. Suddenly she was well and able to live her life in a brand-new way, as part of her community. Who knows what was in store for the synagogue leader’s daughter? She was dead and now lived. She now had her whole life ahead of her! All these things happened because of belief in Jesus Christ.

Jesus loves us, as he loved these people and all he asks is that we believe. Lives are changed every day because of the love of Jesus Christ. I pray that all people see this love for themselves and are changed by it. Let us, as a church, continue to show God’s love to the world so that we may be His ambassadors who help the world know this love and how it can change the world! Amen and Amen!

Karla Gerke

Kgerke56@gmail.com

 

Prayer Concern: People who feel alone and helpless