Back in the day, who you ate with was a big deal. To share a meal with someone was to imply approval of them, their life style, etc. So imagine the shock when a teacher, a holy man, begins eating with the dregs of society. Obviously prostitution and thievery aren't things to aspire too, so why would Jesus eat with people for whom those things were a matter of daily life? I think there are two things at work here, the first and most obvious is something that is repeated in three of the four gospels. Luke 5: 31-32 "It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners." The society of the day wasn't looking for a cure, they thought they were doing just fine, They were looking for the political and physical power to "get what they deserved". They were due for many disappointments. But those who were hurting, and wanting, and seeking, it was to them Jesus came, and to them he brought the cure. It wasn't that he was approving of their sins; they simply needed help, and were willing to accept it.

The second aspect is that I think it shows the glory and power of God to a greater extent. If Jesus were to limit Himself to those who didn't need Him, what would that prove? Why would anyone remember him? A man who brings sand to someone stranded in the Sahara will find no kindly reception, but to him to brings water.... It is God's glory to use the broken things of the world to shame the sound. If we will admit it, we are all broken, all needing repair; but if we surrender ourselves to Him, even we broken tools can bring life and hope and love to the lost and dying.

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"When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" (Matthew 9:11)

Think back to middle school. For most of us, that was a time of serious concern about what other people thought of us. We had to dress and act and talk the way other people did, or risk being mocked and ridiculed. Acceptance, at that point in our lives, was of paramount importance. To not be like everyone else was equivalent to death in our eyes. Thank goodness we pass out of that phase!

But do we really? Think about it. For many of us, we still do what we are expected to do. We follow the precedent set by the people around us and dare not pave a way of our own. We find ourselves dressing and acting much the way those around us do, and we even intentionally spend our time with people just like ourselves. Our own comfort is more important than anything else.

Jesus didn't think that way. Jesus realized that there were things more important than being perfectly accepted by the influential and powerful people in his society. He recognized that if he was spending time with people like himself, he wasn't doing his job. It didn't matter to Jesus if people didn't understand the way he lived his life or if they talked about him behind his back. What mattered most to Jesus was that those most in need of a healing touch, whether physically or emotionally or spiritually, received the loving touch they so desired. He did whatever it took to reach those who most needed to be reached.

He asks the same of us. He wants us to spend time with our brothers and sisters in the church family, but there is a time when he begs us to leave the flock and go in search of those who are lost. He wants every member of the church to reach out. Jesus' one desire is that if we are unconditionally loving and accepting those who need it most, we'll realize that we are acting like everyone else. If he could do it, so can we.

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By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends."

-- Luke 15:1-2 MSG

It's easy to laugh at the Pharisees. After all, we know the end of the story. But aren't we just as guilty as the Pharisees? Luke 15 might just as easily read, "He hangs out with the tattooed/drug users/alcoholics/unwed mothers and he's nice to them. He treats them like friends!" Don't we often judge others just as the Pharisees did?

"Patrice isn't a good friend for you. She looks like a druggie." "Alex hangs out at bars and gets drunk. I heard he got a DUI." You've probably heard someone say something like this; maybe you've even said it yourself. It's not necessarily bad advice, however, it forgets that the people in question are just that people.

People generally do self-destructive things because of some hurt or pain in their lives. Jesus understood that and he loved those sinners. He loved them in spite of themselves, and he ignored the conventional wisdom of his day that said the Pharisees were the "holiest" of men. The Pharisees sent him to the cross. The "sinners" sat and listened to him with rapt attention.

The difference between those sinners and the Pharisees is that the sinners admitted that they weren't perfect. The Pharisees lied to themselves and everyone else, but Jesus knew the truth. Which will you be? Will you be the sinner who admits that you're a sinner and who listens to Jesus to find a new way, or will you be a Pharisee who is a sinner but won't admit it and ignores the one voice that will be your redemption?

Pray this week that God will help you look inward and worry about your own actions instead of worrying about the people around you. If you only worry about everyone else, you may forget that you are a human and you may be guilty of acting like a Pharisee!

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One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to come to his home for a meal, so Jesus accepted the invitation and sat down to eat. A certain immoral woman heard he was there and brought a beautiful jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

"That's right," Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn't give me a kiss of greeting, but she has kissed my feet again and again from the time I first came in. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. I tell you, her sins--and they are many--have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love." Then Jesus said to the woman, "Your sins are forgiven."

Luke 7:36-48

In these verses, Jesus had been invited by one of the Pharisees, named Simon, to have dinner at his home. A sinful woman learned that Jesus was there, and brought an alabaster jar of perfume. She wet his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and poured the perfume on them.
Simon questioned Jesus, suggesting that if Jesus were really a prophet, he would know what a sinner this woman was. Jesus proceeds to tell Simon a story, and explain how she was showing Jesus much more love than Simon had shown. "I tell you, her sins--and they are many--have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love."
How much do you love Jesus? If you don't feel you love Him enough, maybe it's because you're afraid to admit that you are a sinner. I think the Pharisee had this problem, as he was only pointing out the sins of another. Often we act more like the Pharisee, inviting Jesus into our lives as a guest at our table but never falling at his feet in acknowledgement of who He is and who we are before Him.

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