“I’m after mercy, not religion. I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”

 

Guess who said – the Aramaic equivalent of – these words?

 

Right!

 

I suppose He knew it wouldn’t be long before we’d be boxing our devotion into a religion.

And that we’d need reminding that His priorities tend to radically differ from our own, especially when it comes to the pampering of religious insiders.

 

For no man-made institution can fully contain His love.

 

He invented Thinking Outside the Box.

 

Just as the religious top nobs were offended all those years ago, when Jesus seemed to prefer to hang out with the “crooks and riffraff”, would we, in all likelihood, be somewhat taken aback by the kind of people Jesus wants to spend time with today?

 

The kind of people He wants us to spend time with.

 

And shouldn’t we be so, SO relieved.

 

Because, let’s be honest, if the riffraff are His kind of people,

 

those are the kind of people

 

we are.

 

 

Photo: Awhitu Peninsula, New Zealand

Quote: The Message; Matthew 9:13