Many times today we are reminded by people that Jesus showed love to tax collectors and sinners by eating and drinking with them. This story is told in Mark 2: 15-22. In the story the Pharisees are horrified that Jesus would spend time in the company of such people. The Pharisees were a Jewish sect obsessed with keeping the law of Moses to the letter. Jesus condemned them in Matthew 23:23 for neglecting what was really important - justice, mercy and faithfulness.
Calling Sinners To Repent
When Jesus heard of their complaints, He explains why he keeps company with tax collectors and sinners. He says He has come to call sinners to repentance. They are the ones most in need of a physician. Today this story is often told to show that Jesus was "cool" with sinners. But in reality Jesus explained plainly that He came because these people needed healing and repentance from the sin they were living in. He came to change them!
Table For All
Dining together was culturally important in Jesus's time. Today we have lost a lot of the significance of eating with our family and friends. Jesus dined with people who were outcasts to show that God's family, His table, was open to all. This is what Jesus told the Pharisees in Luke 14:12-14,
“When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed...."
A Heavenly Banquet
Several times Jesus is described as eating meals with others. He tells us to "come and dine". These were earthly representations of the heavenly banquet that we look forward to. Isaiah speaks about this coming banquet in Isaiah 25:6,
"The Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined." (ESV)
This banquet is described in the most luxurious of terms. As Isaiah says it is made for all people. Not just the rich and the influential.
Sinners Need A Doctor
This story is so important it is told in three of the gospels. Besides Mark, it is related in Matthew 9: 10-17 and Luke 5: 29-39. In Romans 5:8 we are told by Paul that God loves sinners. This is not to imply that Jesus didn't come to save the Pharisees or that they were so righteous they didn't need to repent. What Jesus was saying was that the tax collectors and sinners knew they needed a doctor, they needed healing and realized it. The Pharisees were so self righteous that they did not see their need for repentance.
Be Transformed
Jesus didn't require the tax collectors and sinners to "clean up" first and become righteous. However, after they met Him He did. Their lives would be changed forever by their encounter with Christ. They would not be the same people who walked into that dinner. No, they would turn from their sin and become a holy and living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) by the power of the Holy Spirit, who would live in their hearts.
True Righteousness
In Matthew 9:13 Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 to the Pharisees. "For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." The Pharisees were convinced that God desired perfect adherence to the law; but in reality God wanted the Pharisees to do more than that. He wanted them to really know Him. He wanted them to desire the knowledge of God. If they did, they would realize that mercy was more important than ritual sacrifices. This was true righteousness, not self-righteousness.
Blessed Who Hunger For Righteousness
Jesus's mission on earth was not to tell the Pharisees what a great job they had done by following the law but to "seek and save the lost" (Luke 19:10) by His death and resurrection. Matthew 5:6 tells us that the blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. These tax collectors and sinners were hungry to know God. They followed Jesus according to Mark. They weren't standing on the sidelines criticizing everything He did like the Pharisees.
Self Righteous Like The Pharisees
Who would we call self-righteous today? The self-righteous today would be similar to the Pharisees. They would be people who forget that there's more to being righteous than following rules. Love. Mercy. Compassion. Kindness. These people often see themselves as righteous like the Pharisees. Jesus calls them "blind fools" (Matthew 23: 16-17). They see no need for God to change them. They believe they are "nice" people and they think that is enough. They are described in 2 Timothy 3:5 as "having a form of godliness". They appear religious on the outside, but their heart has not been changed.
Reach The Unlovable
If we want to love like Christ, then we need to reach out to the unlovable. People who have been marginalized by society; drug addicts, the homeless, the lonely elderly, or criminals for example. We are called to love powerless people who the world does not value. Like the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) our love will be turned into action, not just vague well wishing, but doing for others. As Greg Grandchamp says, "Jesus was living who He was." Who is it that you and I are living? Christ, or someone else?
Come And Dine
Jesus tells us in John 21:12 to "come and dine." Let us feast at His table. He will show us our lives for what they really are and we will realize that we need healing. We all need a great physician. We all need to know God. We will, if we want to be healed like the tax collectors and sinners in Mark, follow Jesus. When we do, we won't stay the same. When we follow Him, we will become transformed into a "new man", one who is "clothed with Christ".
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