Story: Eating With Sinners and Tax Collectors

Category: New Testament
Scriptures: Matthew 9:10-9:13 Mark 2:15-2:17 Luke 5:29-5:32

Commentary

Matthew’s job as a tax collector made him an outsider in his own society. He had willingly chosen to profit off Rome’s oppression of his people, and understandably, the only people who approved of such a choice were other people making similar choices. So it’s not surprising that Matthew’s friends are more “tax collectors and sinners.” The word “sinners” is used in the gospels to denote a specific group of people, not just “sinful humanity” in general, but we don’t know exactly who they were. It’s likely they were non-law-observant Jews, Jewish people who did not tithe, sacrifice, or observe the rites of purity that were meant to set God’s people apart.

They may have included prostitutes or professional mistresses, but it’s unlikely that Matthew’s friends were poor. They are more likely to have been wealthy people perceived as oppressors and backstabbers — Jews who had abandoned their people to benefit from Rome.

In any case, Matthew’s friends were not the sort of people religious teachers would generally welcome or associate with. In fact, association with them was seen as personally tainting and may have been viewed as undermining Israel’s tenuous covenant with God. But Matthew, who had just experienced the call and acceptance of Jesus in his own life, immediately turned around and extended it to others just like himself. Rather than drop his friends, he invites them to come with him on this new journey. He summons them to dinner and introduces them to Jesus. And amazingly enough, some of them come.

In this story we see the heart of God: to share the table with those who are far from him, and more so, to share himself. To enter fully into human life, and here on the ground with us, to give us heaven. Jesus accepted Matthew’s generosity and humbled himself to receive the food of sinners. At the same time, he gave them the heavenly food of himself: his time, his spirit, his kingdom message, his love.

See Commentary

Matthew 9:10-9:13

10 As he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.

11 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.

13 But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Mark 2:15-2:17

15 He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.

16 The scribes and the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Luke 5:29-5:32

29 Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.

30 Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”

31 Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.

32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”