The accusation made about Jesus is that He mixes with the wrong kind of people. He has friends that respectable people would be ashamed to be seen with. It is not even as if He can keep these friends hidden away in a different world; some of them follow him around, and the circles begin to overlap. He recognizes that how rich and successful, how presentable someone is, how much 'street-cred' someone has, does not matter: the rich can be very needy, and the poor can be selfish. Inside, we are all weak and prone to failure; it would be unwise for any of us to cast the first stone. Jesus was a friend of sinners, and we need to be, too. He made Himself of no reputation, and we need to be a little less protective of our own.

--Celtic Daily Prayer

Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash