Eating With Tax Collectors

Chuckle: "You know it's going to be a bad day when your twin forgets your birthday!"

Quote: "We are the only Bible the careless world will read. We are the sinner's gospel. We are the scoffer's creed. We are the Lord's last message, Given in deed and word. What if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred? --Annie Johnson Flint

That night Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. The Pharisees were indignant. "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?" they asked the disciples (Matthew 9:10-11 NLT).

Tax collectors were among the most despised people in the Jewish society. They were seen as traitors because they collected exorbitant taxes for the hated Roman authorities who ruled over the Jewish people. The terms, "tax collectors and sinners" were used in the same breath. For Jesus to socialize with such people brought rebuke from religious leaders. Undeterred, Jesus found Matthew, a tax collector, established a relationship with him, changed his life, and made him one of the twelve. But the Pharisees were more concerned with their own appearance of holiness than with helping people. They showed their self-righteous attitude by criticizing of Jesus.

The longer we are active Christians, the fewer unsaved friends and acquaintances we are likely to have. We tend to become comfortable around those who share our Christian beliefs, values, and lifestyles. But if we follow Jesus' example, we will not be afraid to reach out in a friendly way to those who do not know Christ. We do this by getting out of our comfort zones and seek opportunities to establish relationships with the unredeemed -- with leading them to Christ as our goal. Jesus' mission on earth was to reach out to those often shunned by "respectable" people. Following Jesus' example, we should share the good news with the poor, immoral, lonely, and outcast, not just the rich, popular, respectable, and powerful.

As we establish relationships with unsaved people, we must be careful that their lifestyles do not contaminate us. Listen to what God says in Jude 22 NLT: "Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. There are still others to whom you need to show mercy, but be careful that you aren't contaminated by their sins." As we reach out to the lost in friendship, we must be careful not to become so much like non-Christians that no one can tell who we are or what we believe. Lead others to Christ but don't let them influence you to sin.

This is what Jesus meant when he prayed for the disciples. "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it" (John 17:15-16 NIV). Like Jesus, we should relate to people who need to be saved, but we should not become like those we are trying to reach.

Love, Jerry & Dotse