Jesus didn’t eat with sinners and tax collectors because he wanted to appear inclusive, tolerant, and accepting.
Jesus ate with them to call them to a changed and fruitful life, to die to self and to live for him. His call is a transformation of life and not an affirmation of identity.
Sometimes we push being inclusive, tolerant and accepting too far. How has Jesus called YOU to transform YOUR life since the Covid epidemic has diminished?
DEAR GOD, PLEASE HELP ME TO RESPOND WITH LOVE BEFORE I REACT WITH ANGER!
My Commentary:
The image’s message is a powerful clarification of Jesus’ mission and motive. It challenges a common modern misconception: that Jesus’ dining with sinners and tax collectors was merely a gesture of inclusivity.
In truth, it was a radical act of love with a divine purpose—calling people to repentance, renewal, and transformation. Jesus came not to affirm people in their brokenness, but to heal them and call them into a new way of being.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus’ encounters with sinners were never passive. He met them where they were, but he did not leave them there. When he dined with Zacchaeus, it led to repentance and restitution (Luke 19:8). When he defended the woman caught in adultery, he also told her, “Go, and sin no more” (John 8:11). His love was always accompanied by a call to change, to die to self, and to live for God.
This message reminds us that Jesus does not offer us mere acceptance—he offers us transformation. And that transformation is the essence of discipleship.
My Prayer Reflection:
Lord Jesus,
You sat with sinners not to validate their sin,
But to awaken their hearts to your mercy and truth.
You saw beyond appearances, beyond shame and failure,
And called each person to rise, to follow, to be made new.Teach me, Lord, to hear your voice not only in comfort but in challenge.
Help me not to settle for shallow affirmation,
But to open myself to your transforming love.
Strip away my pride, my self-will, my old patterns,
And make me a new creation, alive in you.
May I never be afraid to approach you in my weakness,
And may I never resist your call to grow in holiness.
Form in me the courage to follow where you lead—
From sin to grace, from death to life, from self to Christ. Amen.
