When we think of Jesus being criticized for eating with “tax collectors and sinners”, we usually applaud how He identified with the lowly and down-trodden of His day. But is that completely accurate? After all, tax collectors weren’t lowly and down-trodden at all; instead, they were rich and privileged.
But they were also despised for their choice of in-your-face defiance of Jewish law and tradition. As Christians, we easily offer sympathy and help to those who seem to want it. But what about those who — like the tax collectors — are flagrantly and deliberately thumbing their nose at everything we hold dear? For instance, that might include those protesting in favor of anti-semitic terrorists, or radically twisting and subverting God’s design for sexuality, or with dress and attitude that scream “defiant”.
Might the tax collectors of Jesus’ day be closer to today’s transgender activists 1 than to the homeless on our streets? If so, what can we learn from His treatment of “tax collectors and sinners” (hereinafter referred to as “TC&S”)?
He didn’t reject them.
Respectable people wanted nothing to do with TC&S. Religious leaders certainly would not be caught dead anywhere near them. Even normal everyday people would avoid them on the street, except maybe to mutter behind their backs. They were the classic example of what-not-to-do, the ones that parents warned their children about. “Good” people refused to associate with them.
Except for the exciting new rabbi that everyone was talking about: Jesus.
He reached out to them.
After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.”
Luke 5:27
And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.
Luke 19:1-10
…
When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
Levi and Zaccheus were not asking for Jesus’ attention. Levi was at work, collecting taxes from his fellow Jews on behalf of the occupying Roman Empire. Zaccheus — a very rich chief tax collector — was curious enough to climb a tree so he could have a view of Jesus. But he had no plans to actually encounter Him. Both must have been shocked when He singled them out.
Try a thought experiment. Get an image in your mind of someone who means “TC&S” to you. Here are some possibilities:
Can you imagine walking up to your TC&S and starting a casual, friendly, non-confrontational conversation? How would you go about it? What would you (or I) say, or ask, in order to simply make a human connection with them?
He shared life with them.
And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”
Luke 5:28-30
When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man [Zaccheus] who is a sinner.”
Luke 19:7
Not only did Jesus simply speak to the TC&S, He went into their homes and shared meals with them. In that culture, and often still today, the act of eating a meal together signified friendship and fellowship. Even enemies put aside their differences for the duration of the meal.
There were some who were highly offended when Jesus modeled this kind of fellowship with TC&S. In their minds, He was contaminating Himself, like rolling in mud. They would never do such a thing, and could not imagine respecting a rabbi who did. They didn’t mind, however, when He shared a meal with them even though they didn’t respect Him (Luke 7:36-39)!
Back to our thought experiment: If you imagined having a conversation with your representative TC&S above, now imagine going out to dinner with them. Beyond that, imagine inviting them to your home for that dinner…or accepting an invitation to their home. How would that feel? Could you put aside differences and truly welcome them to share a part of your life? Could I?
He had compassion for them.
And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:31-32
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Luke 19:10
Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.
Matthew 9:36
Jesus saw beyond the TC&S actions. He saw their their hurting hearts and their damaged souls. He knew that they were alienated from God, and were looking for something to fill that void in their lives. He knew that they were lost, and that He had come to save them.
In that case, how are they any different from me, or from you?
He scolded those who looked down on them.
Jesus reserved His harshest rebukes for those who thought they were definitely not TC&S, who considered themselves to be above such people. Check out His list of “woes” to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:13-33, calling them things like whitewashed tombs: Pretty and clean on the outside but full of decay on the inside. His parable in Luke 18:9-14 contrasted the Pharisee who thanked God that he was “not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” with the TC&S who asked for mercy…and received it.
He didn’t excuse their sin.
Don’t think that Jesus was a pushover, though, so sappy loving that He overlooked the sin of the TC&S. To the woman at the well (John 4:1-42), He revealed Himself as divine by knowing her sin, that she had had five husbands but was living with a man not her husband. To the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-14) and to the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), He ended the conversations by telling them to “go and sin no more“.
Instead, He changed their lives.
I note, though, that I can’t think of a single time that He insisted the TC&S clean up their act before He would accept them. It was the other way around: They changed as a result of already having experienced His love and acceptance. Remember:
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 (emphasis added)
After being with Jesus, both Levi and Zaccheus changed their ways. Zaccheus vowed to give half his possessions to the poor and to repay fourfold to anyone he had cheated. Levi became a disciple, then an Apostle, then a Gospel writer under his other name: Matthew.
The Bible doesn’t record all the details of every single encounter that Jesus had with TC&S. But I think it is pretty safe to conclude that 1) many went on to “sin no more” and 2) none would have been healed if Jesus had not been willing to associate with them. Remember:
We love, because He first loved us.
1 John 4:19
What about us?
As Christians, we know that we are not Jesus! But we are called to display Him to the world. How can we model His way of dealing with the TC&S who cross our paths…maybe even the ones who walk through our church doors?
- Don’t reject. Don’t avoid. Be willing to reach out and share life.
- Have compassion, remembering the precious, infinitely valuable, lost soul that God sees behind the defiant actions.
- Don’t excuse sin. Demonstrate that there is a better way, and show them the attraction of the life that Jesus came to give.
If we can treat even difficult people the way that Jesus did, He will use that to draw them to Himself. Then they will no longer be difficult: They will become brothers and sisters in Christ!
Those who read this site know that I love the TV series “The Chosen“. Here is their scene of the dinner at Matthew’s house, and the reaction of the religious leaders. Enjoy, but consider populating the table with modern-day TC&S. Would your reaction (or mine) be closer to Jesus, or to the Pharisees?
