scum

Luke 5 

27 Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. 28 So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

29 Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. 30 But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”

31 Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. 32 I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

In other accounts of Jesus calling Matthew, the people at the banquet are referred to as tax collectors & "other notorious sinners".

Most of the sermons I've heard on this text, preachers zero in on what Jesus said in verses 31 & 32.

But I've always thought about this - I've mentioned this countless times in this blog...

Jesus had a way about Himself that drew "notorious sinner" - they WANTED to be around Him, & He wanted to be around them. Most Jews believed that hanging with notorious sinners defiled them & made them unclean. Jesus clearly communicated something very different.

Which begs the question - is there so much of Jesus' Spirit in those of us that claim to follow Jesus that the notorious sinners of our day WANT to hang with us?

AND... are we becoming so much like Jesus as His followers that we WANT to hang with notorious sinners?

Yes, those are the 2 REAL questions we must answer, & I believe we all know the true answer to those question in regards to each of us...