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Day 283, or October the 10th. Don't look down

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your nose like that. Our thoughts today are from

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Mark chapter 2, verse 17. On hearing this, Jesus

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said to them, It is not the healthy who need

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a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call

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the righteous, but sinners. And now the big picture

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surrounding this verse. Mark is by far the shortest

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gospel in the Bible, traditionally thought to

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have been written by Mark with considerable input

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from Peter. It's been described as Peter's recollections

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written by Mark. This is an interesting perspective

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when you read of the vulnerable humanity of Peter.

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Significantly, lots of people will tell you that

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Peter is their favourite disciple because he

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is so human. Mark takes no time to record anything

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in Jesus' life until he is a man, and the first

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chapter is filled with a record of his baptism,

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his first words, the calling of the first disciples,

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and several healings. The first four chapters

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cover about a third of the earthly ministry of

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Jesus. It is thought Mark, which is a Roman name,

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was writing for his fellow Romans, who tended

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to be instant people. wanting things done immediately,

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not unlike us. And now, today's action step.

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I recall seeing a wayside pulpit many years ago

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that read, Only sinners are welcome here. How

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would you feel if you walked past this declaration

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each time you attended church? Am I sounding

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very middle class? As someone who was born and

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grew up on a council estate in the northeast

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of England, the idea of being middle class never

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entered my head, but I am convinced that the

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values which should mark out all believers tend

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to make many of us look middle class. That doesn't

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give me problems as long as our mission field

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is not restricted. I constantly need reminding

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that Jesus died for those people who litter the

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streets. drop chewing gum all over the place,

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and dress for church as though they'd just finished

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repairing the car after a full day in the garden.

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Sorry. Jesus came for the respectable and unrespectable

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alike, and we all need to remember that every

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day.