Celebrating

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew 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 the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved." Matthew 9:9-17

We are in our last weeks here in Sitka. One of things we had been hoping to do while we were here finally happened yesterday - we went fishing for salmon. Lisa and Dave Moore took us out on their boat and within the first hour my husband had reeled in a king salmon. A little while later I reeled one in and then pretty soon after Lisa brought in another king. We were elated and thrilled! Then we went to their house for an amazing lunch of grilled salmon. Dave was an amazingly skilled teacher ad captain and Lisa demonstrated her filleting skills. There are trays of salmon smoking away today. When the sea provides such bounty how can you help it. You have to celebrate.

The religious leaders were expecting Jesus' followers to be pious, self-denying hermits. Instead Jesus and his followers were found with the worse sorts of folks, enjoying themselves and celebrating. Jesus pointed out to his critics that when God provides needs and the abundance to fill them, then we should celebrate and be filled with love. God invites us to see the abundance around us and share our good blessings with those around us.

Today I ask God to help me celebrate the many blessings we have by sharing from all that we have. May we all rejoice in the bounty we have received and delight in God's love for every one of us.