13 Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.
15 Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) 16 But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”
17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
I’m reading Arron Chambers’ book “Eats With Sinners” these days. What a convicting read it is! The book is based on the principles found in this passage of Scripture. In Jesus’ culture, to eat with someone was of great social significance. It indicated a desire for intimacy…to really get to know someone. So, when the religious leaders of the day saw Jesus eating with tax collectors and prostitutes (“scum”), they were indignant. How DARE someone who claimed to follow God hang out with such people?!?! Jesus puts the smug, self-righteous separatists in their proper place by stating that He did not come to call those who think they are righteous, but those who know that they are sinners. Father, may I be known more by the company I keep…people who know they are sinners and who want a relationship with Jesus. May I never again be a religious separatist like I have been in the past, and may Jesus be glorified by all I do each day of my life.
