A meal of Jesus
Eating With Tax Collectors and Sinners
At Matthew the tax collector's house
Read the chapter: Mark 2
“And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.”
What happened at the table
Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collector, and soon is reclining at his table with a crowd of tax collectors and sinners, the people respectable society avoided. The religious leaders are scandalized: why does he eat with such people? Jesus answers, they that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
What it reveals
In that world, to share a table was to share a life. By eating with the outcasts, Jesus was not merely tolerating them; He was welcoming them, treating them as friends. It was one of the most offensive things He did, and one of the most beautiful. He did not wait for people to clean up their lives before drawing near. He came near first, and the nearness changed them, as it changed Matthew and Zacchaeus.
How it leads to the Living Bread
This is the heart of the gospel at a dinner table. Jesus is the friend of sinners, not because sin does not matter, but because He came precisely for the ones who knew they were sick. If you have ever felt too compromised, too far gone, too unwelcome to come to God, look at where Jesus chose to sit. He is still the kind of Savior who eats with sinners, and there is a place at His table set for you, exactly as you are.
Questions people ask
Why did Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners?
Because He came to seek and save the lost. In Mark 2, when criticized for eating with sinners, Jesus said the sick, not the healthy, need a physician, and that He came to call sinners. Sharing a table meant welcome, so He was befriending the very people society rejected.
What does it mean that Jesus was a friend of sinners?
It means Jesus drew near to the outcast and compromised before they cleaned up their lives, welcoming them at His table. It reveals a God who comes toward us in our need rather than waiting for us to become worthy, offering everyone a place with Him.