Parties

"I desire mercy, and not sacrifice," Matthew 9:13.

Jesus said that. Yep. He did. He quoted from the prophet Hosea. (Side bar: he quoted from a Greek translation of the original Hebrew. Thus, we receive translations of the Bible into current languages as amply adequate for what God wants heard on earth.) Back to mercy. Why did this even come up? because he, Jesus, went to parties where actual sinners and such hung out. So some meticulous religionists raked him and his followers over the righteous coals for consorting with riff-raff. That's why. But we know that Jesus connected with us, riff-raff, because we desperately needed mercy and healing, not more religion. Sky kingdom.

We meet today with a brother or sister whether lost or transformed by Christ. And, together with Jesus, we share God's mercy and healing with thanksgiving.