Meditation XXI -- Appropriate

"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

I am continually surprised when I read the Gospels that anyone considered unclean in Jesus' time ever became clean. There were prescriptions for becoming clean in the Old Testament. But it seems that those who would be in the best place to aid such people instead stood as barriers against them. It is no wonder Our Lord called them "whitewashed tombs"!

Only a couple of chapters before in Matthew's gospel we hear Jesus telling the people, "You will recognize them by their fruits." And what was fruit of the Pharisees? Nothing. If anything, they merely produced more Pharisees. What was the fruit of Jesus? The "unclean" and "untouchable" brought to repentance, serving and loving God.

Lord, help us to obey You and be willing to dine with the lost, worrying less about what is appropriate and more about being a friend to sinners who need You. Let us all, no matter how unworthy the world says we are, sit at Your Table and dine with You, our compassionate Savior. Amen.