Questions for Jesus: "Why Does Jesus Eat with Sinners?", part 1

Since most people are busy Wednesday nights in the children's ministry, I decided to transfer the Wednesday night Bible study into a blog, particularly during this "Questions for Jesus" series.

Today's question appears in all three "Synoptic" Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), and, except for one sentence, the accounts are nearly identical.  The extra sentence appears in Matthew, so that's the account we'll be studying today.

Matthew 9:9-13

Matthew was a tax collector, which meant that he was considered a traitor and a crook by his fellow Jews.  With that perception for all tax collectors, there was not much incentive to be the "odd" honest tax collector, so most lived up to the reputation, getting rich by extorting more taxes out of people than they actually owed.

So when Jesus called Matthew to be his disciple, it was a radical change for him to leave a life of dishonest riches behind to follow Christ.  But before he left this life behind to travel with Jesus, he wanted to introduce his friends to Jesus.  So he had a banquet, inviting his old friends to meet his new friend, Jesus.

Now Matthew's friends were scoundrels and people of ill-repute, just like he had been, so people were shocked to see Jesus attending a banquet and eating and drinking with these types of people.  So the question came to the disciples: "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

This question had a biblical basis.  Much of the Old Testament story is about Israel's failure to separate themselves from the people around them.  And Old Testament wisdom is filled with warnings about the type of company a person keeps:

"He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." - Proverbs 13:20

"He who keeps the law is a discerning son, but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father." - Proverbs 28:7

"I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation." - Jeremiah 15:17

And now here is Jesus sitting "in the company of revelers," being a "companion of gluttons," and "fools."  How could he justify that?  We know from reading the Gospels that the Pharisees are almost always wrong and Jesus is always right, so we might miss that the Pharisees had a legitimate questions here.  Even Paul wrote, "Bad company corrupts good character."  So what was Jesus doing?

Jesus heard the question and he gave the Pharisees with a three-part answer.  It is not three separate reasons for his actions, but three different aspects of a single answer.  We will look at each separately.

Answer #1: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."

First, I think we need to recognize what this tells us about who we will encounter at church.  Church attracts dysfunctional people, people who know they need help, are looking for a place of validation, of hope, of healing.  People ought to see church as a place where they can be loved and accepted, and many hurting and broken people are attracted to church for this reason.  People who think they are doing fine without God are unlikely to seek him out, if they are not raised in church.

I will also note that some people's "dysfunction" that brings them to church is the chance to project or reinforce their superiority or to have a place to exert influence.  That was probably one thing that drew the Pharisees to the positions they held.

That being said (that the church attracts dysfunctional people), it is still counter to our tendencies to want to show our dysfunctions or to be around people with obvious issues.  When someone exposes their garbage (on purpose or by mistake), it makes others uncomfortable.  So we put on a good face and try to look "healthy," even though there's got to be a reason that we're here at the doctor's office.

We don't go to the doctor's office and act offended and shocked that someone is there coughing or having to run to the bathroom every few minutes.  We know people there are sick.  That's why they are there.  And we know that if we go to the doctor's office and then won't admit to the doctor our symptoms, we can't get effective treatment.  So Jesus is telling us that hiding our sin from him or one another does no good, and that it is those who realize and admit their sickness that get healing.

That's going to be all for today. 

Part 2