My Bible reading this morning included Matthew 9:10-13 (from The Message):

 Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riff-raff?”

Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”

All of the sudden it became real to me. Or more real. I think I get it, I tell people I get it, I get frustrated at our church folks that I assume don't get it. But do I really get it? When I dream about what our church could be, I envision this spiritual utopia, where we worship and work together. Where all of us insiders gather to enjoy mutual coddling. The problem is that ain't it, according to Jesus. The "spiritual" don't need help. The healthy don't need a doctor. The insiders don't need to be coddled.

Am I doing everything I can to engage the outsider, the unchurched, the "unspiritual." And it matters to a much lesser extent I believe, but when I do reach out to the outsider, is my intention to focus on them for them the way Jesus did, or am I looking to grow "my" church and impress the spiritual insiders?

What would my ministry look like, what would the church's ministry look like if we really were directed toward the outsider, the one that Jesus loved?