March 30th, 2026
Monday, March 30
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
~Luke 15:1-2
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
~Luke 19:5-7
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
~Matthew 13:10-11
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Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
~Luke 15:1-2
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
~Luke 19:5-7
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
~Matthew 13:10-11
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I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but the most joyless people Jesus encounters are also the ones who take issue with God’s lavish grace for others. I find that interesting, don’t you?
The joyless ones are the ones trying to hold it all together because they have some standards or ideals they’re trying to maintain. And it’s not just “religious rules.” It’s social expectations usually. They’ve worked so hard at building and maintaining a fortress of “pleasing” or “proper” behavior. They’ve forgotten or ignored there is a palace already prepared for them (and others) to live in (remember Psalm 23!). Oh, and by “they,” I really mean me and mostly all people, because these are our built-in human tendencies that come pre-packaged with our old humanity.
Somehow we as humans think we can work really hard at establishing something to go along with or compliment the existence of grace God has already given. It’s with good intentions, but it’s also not what God asked for, what God wants, or what God needs. And importantly, it is not what we need, either.
All throughout Scripture the grace of God opposes this human tendency. Adam & Eve – God had already given them everything. Yet, they were convinced they needed to build their own thing to become like God. Bad move. The tower of Babel – silly humans trying to build the biggest spiritual fortress to God so others would notice them (sort of like many modern churches, sadly). Bad move. King David wanted to build a nice big temple for God. God said, “I really don’t need that. Maybe YOU need that to make your kingship look good, but I, the Lord of heaven and earth don’t need that, thank you.” The Christians in Galatia thought imposing certain lifestyle laws on other Christians would make everyone more Christian. It did not.
And on and on.
When we do things like, we steal our own joy. We become occupied with maintaining our thing, our ideas, or our wants and preferences and then think others should value and appreciate and live according to them. It distracts from God’s grace and lays an unnecessary burden on us.
God’s grace is given precisely so that we don’t have to do this to ourselves. Jesus invites us to lay our burdens down and rest from our striving and building our own thing. Just learn from him. Simple. When we embrace God’s grace, we are genuinely free to stop trying to build our own little houses. And maintain our own little houses. And compare our own little houses with someone else’s little house. All of that steals joy and enslaves us to ourselves. We become Pharaoh to ourselves (and sometimes over others).
God’s grace is God drawing you into his fellowship to share in all things – ALL THINGS! – so you can put down your striving to build your own existence, or worse, an existence based on your preferences that other people should follow. This is THE danger of our celebrity, social media, building-a-brand Christian culture today. We cancel out God’s grace by building our own things. We distract from God’s grace by focusing on our doing. And then we become joyless, tired, burned out. God’s grace says you don’t have to live like this.
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For reflection:
Prayer: Heavenly father, you have welcomed us into your life as an act of grace. You have given us all things. Teach us to rest from striving to build our own ways. Amen.
The joyless ones are the ones trying to hold it all together because they have some standards or ideals they’re trying to maintain. And it’s not just “religious rules.” It’s social expectations usually. They’ve worked so hard at building and maintaining a fortress of “pleasing” or “proper” behavior. They’ve forgotten or ignored there is a palace already prepared for them (and others) to live in (remember Psalm 23!). Oh, and by “they,” I really mean me and mostly all people, because these are our built-in human tendencies that come pre-packaged with our old humanity.
Somehow we as humans think we can work really hard at establishing something to go along with or compliment the existence of grace God has already given. It’s with good intentions, but it’s also not what God asked for, what God wants, or what God needs. And importantly, it is not what we need, either.
All throughout Scripture the grace of God opposes this human tendency. Adam & Eve – God had already given them everything. Yet, they were convinced they needed to build their own thing to become like God. Bad move. The tower of Babel – silly humans trying to build the biggest spiritual fortress to God so others would notice them (sort of like many modern churches, sadly). Bad move. King David wanted to build a nice big temple for God. God said, “I really don’t need that. Maybe YOU need that to make your kingship look good, but I, the Lord of heaven and earth don’t need that, thank you.” The Christians in Galatia thought imposing certain lifestyle laws on other Christians would make everyone more Christian. It did not.
And on and on.
When we do things like, we steal our own joy. We become occupied with maintaining our thing, our ideas, or our wants and preferences and then think others should value and appreciate and live according to them. It distracts from God’s grace and lays an unnecessary burden on us.
God’s grace is given precisely so that we don’t have to do this to ourselves. Jesus invites us to lay our burdens down and rest from our striving and building our own thing. Just learn from him. Simple. When we embrace God’s grace, we are genuinely free to stop trying to build our own little houses. And maintain our own little houses. And compare our own little houses with someone else’s little house. All of that steals joy and enslaves us to ourselves. We become Pharaoh to ourselves (and sometimes over others).
God’s grace is God drawing you into his fellowship to share in all things – ALL THINGS! – so you can put down your striving to build your own existence, or worse, an existence based on your preferences that other people should follow. This is THE danger of our celebrity, social media, building-a-brand Christian culture today. We cancel out God’s grace by building our own things. We distract from God’s grace by focusing on our doing. And then we become joyless, tired, burned out. God’s grace says you don’t have to live like this.
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For reflection:
- Read Matthew 6:1-21. Notice how Jesus instructs people to do things “in secret.” Why do you think this is important? How does this connect to todays’ reflection on God’s grace?
- For those with kids: Talk about how God’s grace means that there is nothing you or I need to do for God to welcome us. Sometimes the things we try to do actually distract us from God’s grace. Compare it with being in your home. Imagine of one of your kids said, “I’m going to try to build my own house.” Would that make life more freeing, or would it steal joy and be more of a burden?
Prayer: Heavenly father, you have welcomed us into your life as an act of grace. You have given us all things. Teach us to rest from striving to build our own ways. Amen.
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