Come One Come All

## Go Away or Come Close

In the last devotional, we focused in on the two groups drawing close to Jesus but in the next verse, we're being introduced to two new groups who are the opposite. The Pharisees are members of a religious Jewish group that followed the Old Testament laws in a strict manner. The scribes are those who are experts in that Jewish law, both in the canon Old Testament and through traditions. I can't prove this theory but do find it interesting to point out two groups are drawing close and two are drifting further away. The tax collectors are knowledgeable in the government rules and law when it comes to money; the sinners would be experts so-to-speak in living after the world's rules, which in turn are part of the tax collectors. The other side you almost have a mirror. The scribes are knowledgeable in the Scriptures and law when it comes to God; the Pharisees are experts living after those rules and laws. In other words, the scribes are on the opposite side of the tax collectors and the Pharisees are opposite of the sinners. The groups that should be able to show you how to live and think about things of God are the ones drifting. The groups that should be opposing God and not understanding how to follow Him are pursuing Him. Jesus is the divider between belief and unbelief; heaven and hell; life and death. He is the measurement of truth according to the Gospels. Here He has drawn Himself between the experts of the Law and experts of the World, and says, "Whoever may come." Christ is a stumbling block or a stepping stone. He is the One that can divide brother against brother, mother against daughter, or father against son.

## Self-Check

Are you drawing closer to God or drifting further away? We see knowledge doesn't necessarily mean you're growing in Christ. We don't pursue knowledge; we pursue faith working through love, and the author of that is God Himself. When you draw close to Him, He will draw close to You. And as we see in these verses, it doesn't matter what you've done or how you're currently living- Christ will receive you.

## To Get There From Here