Our Daily Bread--Seeing Upside Down

READ: Matthew 8:1-4; 9:9-12

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. —Matthew 9:12

In India I worshiped among leprosy patients. Most of the medical advances in the treatment of leprosy came about as a result of missionary doctors, who were willing to live among patients and risk exposure to the dreaded disease. As a result, churches thrive in most major leprosy centers. In Myanmar I visited homes for AIDS orphans, where Christian volunteers try to replace parental affection the disease has stolen away. The most rousing church services I have attended took place in Chile and Peru, in the bowels of a federal prison. Among the lowly, the wretched, the downtrodden—the rejected of this world—God’s kingdom takes root.

Taking God’s assignment seriously means that we must learn to look at the world upside down, as Jesus did. Instead of seeking out people with resources who can do us favors, we look for people with few resources. Instead of the strong, we find the weak; instead of the healthy, the sick. Instead of the spiritual, the sinful. Is not this how God reconciles the world to Himself? “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. . . . I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:12-13 niv)

To gain a new perspective, look at the world upside down as Jesus did. —Philip Yancey

We know, Jesus, that You sought the lowly ones
who were rejected by others. We want to be like
You. Open our eyes and show us how.
We long to be used by You to bless others.

Do you see a needy world through the eyes of Jesus?

Insight

Jesus dined with the Pharisees (Luke 7:36; 11:37), perhaps even with a member of the Sanhedrin (14:1). But Jesus ate so often with social and religious outcasts that He earned the reputation as “a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Matt.11:19). He even appointed a tax collector as His apostle. When the self-righteous Pharisees criticized Him for socializing with those they considered the outcasts of society, Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5:32).