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Mark 2:14-16
As [Jesus] was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house … the scribes of the Pharisees … said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

To ponder
It is God’s intent that the stones that were once seen as unfit to be a part of the architecture, the stones that were once thrown away or kept in the quarry, have now been called to be the chief cornerstones … Whenever you see rejected stones and rejected people becoming the focus of society, it is the Lord’s doing. - William J. Barber II, sermon at Disciples of Christ General Assembly.

No accounting for taste
What is God calling you to be? You might think, “God isn’t calling me into God’s service. I’m not kind enough, humble enough, good enough. In fact, I’m a huge liability!” Here’s the thing - you might be right about being a liability.

Levi the tax collector was a liability. His presence attracted the scrutiny of the Pharisees and scribes, which eventually got Jesus killed. Then again maybe Levi’s presence wasn’t a liability - maybe that was the point! Maybe Levi was called to follow, not to advance Jesus’ cause, but because he was Jesus’ cause.

Before you discredit yourself today for being too x, y, or z, remember that God has a long history of choosing to love and call folks in a way that makes no logical sense to us. Our lives move to the beat of a God who loves in God’s own way, with no accounting for taste!

Prayer
Jesus, you chose to dine with the likes of Levi, so I’m going to stop trying to figure out why you want me in your company and just accept that you have strange taste. I couldn’t be more grateful for that. Amen.

(from: “A Story to Tell: Devotions for Lent” Bekki Lohrmann, Harvard Stephens Jr., Lydia Posselt, David L. Miller; Augsburg Fortress, 2020)