Jesus Dines With Sinners Series

There is something very gratifying about being accepted by people of high social status. If I am ever with someone with high social standing or if they have lots of clout, I am right away taken in. If my friends could see me now, I am thinking. I am easily starstruck by anyone with even a little bit of fame.

It is all too easy to relish mixing with the social elite who will boost our own status and so we try to be accepted by them. But Jesus did not pursue the social elite. It did not bother Jesus if he was overlooked to a society event.

Jesus did not seek after status or position. As a matter of fact, Jesus spent his time with social outcasts. His friends included shady characters like Zacchaeus who was despised by many. There were a lot of people muttering under their breath when they saw that Jesus spent time with this kind of people.

Jesus showed mercy to lepers, prostitutes, adulterers and associated with people society treated as people to be avoided. Jesus sought out those who were down and out. When they met Jesus, their lives were transformed. Those who have reached a low point in life often are the ones who recognize their need for God.

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. 14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. 15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:13-17)

Jesus left Capernaum for one of his favorite activities, teaching to the crowds along the sea of Galilee. As Jesus walked along, he saw Levi the son of Alpheaus in the tax collector’s booth. Jesus simply said, “follow me.”

We know Levi by his more common name, Matthew. We know him as one of the twelve disciples. We know him as the author of the first book we find in the New Testament, the gospel of Matthew.

When Jesus met Matthew here at the Sea of Galilee, he was a social outcast. He was a despised tax collector. It was not just that people hate to pay taxes. There was much more to it than that. The Jews viewed the tax collectors as traitors because they were selling out to the Roman government for personal gain. They collected taxes on a commission bases from their own fellow Jewish people to pay to the Roman government.

There was Levi, (Matthew) in a tax collector booth. He was a disliked man in a reviled profession. Jesus said to this despised tax collector, follow me. Jesus called men and women from every walk of life.

Jesus called Matthew and transforms him from a despised social outcast into an apostle, evangelist, and writer of the most read gospel. He will become a hero of the faith. Jesus was not concerned about how this would play out in terms of public relations.

Jesus turns away respectable men like Nicodemus and the Rich Young ruler, and he calls the publicans to follow him. We see Jesus’ attitude toward sinners. He loves them. He hates the sin, and he loves the sinner.

In Luke chapter 7 there is the story of Jesus being anointed by a sinful woman. People begin to talk that he is associated with a woman of bad reputation. There is the story he told of the money lender. One owed 50 pieces of silver and the other owed 500 pieces of silver and neither could pay back their debt. Both debts are cancelled, and he asks which one would love him more. It is the one with the bigger debt cancelled.

Matthew had a large debt of sin cancelled and his love for Jesus was great. He was so grateful to Jesus that he threw a banquet in his honor.

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. (Luke 5:29).

Matthew invited all his friends who were tax collectors and sinners. He wanted all of them to meet Jesus. That is why new believers are more likely to start movements. New believers can share so effectively with all their friends. Their friends are sinners, and they have a new joy and transformed life that has the attention of their friends and family.