Jesus Rejected: Eating With Sinners
Have you ever felt like the church people don't really get you? Like they have their spiritual lives all figured out and you're just trying to keep your head above water? Maybe you've even wondered if Jesus would want anything to do with someone like you. Messy. Struggling. Not quite measuring up to the religious standard.
The Pharisees had the same question, but from the other side. They watched Jesus eat with the wrong people and asked His disciples, “Why does Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners?” – Mark 2:16
The religious leaders of Jesus' day had spent their entire lives building a system of self-righteousness. They knew the Scriptures. They followed the rules. They separated themselves from anything unholy.
And when Jesus finally came, they expected Him to validate their approach, to gather the righteous and the clean and the spiritually successful. Instead, Jesus sat down and ate with the moral failures of first-century Israel.
He shared meals with people who had betrayed their nation by collecting Roman taxes. He welcomed those whose lives were a public mess.
One of the reasons the Pharisees rejected Jesus was He didn't affirm their self-made righteousness.
This is the great irony. The people who knew the most Scripture missed the whole point of Scripture. They were so focused on religious performance that they couldn't recognize God's grace when it sat right in front of them.
Where in your life right now do you feel most tempted to earn God's approval through your own goodness? Here's the good news that turned the Pharisees' theology upside down. Jesus didn't come to celebrate the healthy. He came to heal the sick.
He didn't come to reward people who had their lives together. He came to rescue people who were drowning in sin. Jesus offers grace precisely because we cannot earn it. Then it wouldn't be grace. And His friendship flows to those who know they have nothing to offer Him but their need.
It's not that the sinners that ate with Jesus were better people than the Pharisees. They were just honest about who they were. They knew they were sick and needed a physician. And when the great physicians showed up, they didn't pretend they were healthy. They came to Him for healing.
It's not our religious resume or spiritual discipline or sincerity that saves us. It's Jesus. Jesus is rich in mercy. The tax collectors got it. The sinners got it. The Pharisees, tragically, did not.
So today, when you're tempted to hide your struggles, remember who Jesus is searching for. When you feel disqualified because of yesterday's failure, remember whose table Jesus sits at.
When you catch yourself looking down on someone else's mess while ignoring your own, remember why the Pharisees missed Jesus entirely.
Christianity is not a trophy for the spiritually successful. It's a hospital for sin-sick souls who have found the only physician who can heal them from the inside out.
Remember, Jesus isn't waiting for you to clean yourself up before you come to Him. He's inviting you to His table right now. Mess and all.
Father, you are the God who pursues sinners and welcomes home the lost. I'm sorry for often trusting my own efforts as I look down on others. Thank you, Jesus, for coming for sinners like me. Cause me to extend the same grace I've received and to lift up Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray.
Song: Cornerstone