hang

Jesus went to the home of Matthew, who was a tax collector before he became a disciple of Jesus.

There were lots of other tax collectors & friends who were at the meal, too.

The Pharisees didn't like the fact that Jesus was eating with people they thought of as sinners.

Here's what went down...



Luke 5:30c (The Pharisees said) "Why do you eat & drink with such scum?"

31 Jesus answered them,

    "Healthy people don't need a doctor - sick people do.

     32 I have come to call sinners to turn from their sins,


            not to spend my time with those who think they are already good enough."



Jesus was known as a guy who loved to hang out with "sinners" - iow, people who lived lives that weren't socially acceptable to the "more spiritually aware" of Jesus' day.

How many of us are like Jesus - purposefully spending time with people who don't follow Jesus, not because it our duty, but because we really do care about them & for them?

And how many of us are like the others in this story who played it safe, didn't get involved with those "sinners" & kept themselves "pure & undefiled" by the sinners' lives?

Plus, where would we all be if the people who had made the most impact on us to become Christ followers had thought more like the Pharisees, & not like Jesus?

I know where I'd be - on the slippery slope to hell!