EATING WITH SINNERS

 

Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

                         Philippians 2:5-11

 

Imagine the multitudes of this world as fish swimming in a sea where all the food is dropped in from above. Hence the big fish, the powerful influential fish, swim up near the top and grab the food as soon as its dropped in forcing the little fish, thee weak and old fish, to stay down near the bottom and grab whatever crumbs drop through.

 

We're going fishing for the Kingdom of God and we take with us a net which is very strong and easy to handle and made in such a way that it drops to a depth no greater than five feet our net specializes in catching the big fish. We find from experience that big fish attract big fish. If you get a few really big fish into your net all kinds of moderately big fish will join them.

 

But when Jesus went fishing he took a net which extended to the bottom of the sea. Jesus didn't just scoop the big fish off the top, he went all the way down to where the little fish, the sick fish, the weak fish, and the deformed fish are. He took special pains to reach them. Of course, any big fish that wanted to join these rejects in the net were welcome.

 

Five foot surface fishing is better known as opportunism. It's been practiced in Christendom since it's earliest days. It's more sanitary, more comfortable, far more efficient, and far less dangerous than depth fishing. Done with skill, it results in rapid growth and a certain measure of earthly stability. But the only fishing which can be honestly called fishing in the Kingdom of God, is depth fishing. The results depth fishing brings, of course, are not quite so pleasant or impressive...at least for those, who find, little fish, weak fish, ugly fish, crazy fish, repulsive.

 

The fishing chapter of Luke 5 proceeds:

 

After this he went out, and saw a tax collector, named Levi, sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he left everything, and rose and followed him. And Levi made, him a great feast in his house; and there was a large company of tax collectors and others sitting at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Luke 5:27-32

 

To understand what's going on we need to realize who these tax collectors were. They were not just Mafia types --- Mafia types have been glorified in our society --- these tax collectors were stooges of the Roman government getting rich off other men's sweat. It would be as if the Soviet Union conquered America and appointed Americans in every neighborhood to collect thirty percent of our income or send us off to jail. These tax collectors would hang around with each other because no one else would have anything to do with them. They were hated .... and they didn't ex­actly like themselves. Tax collectors were on the bottom of the sea right along with the drunks, the prostitutes, the lepers and the demon possessed. In fact, to any Jew who had any self-respect at all, these tax collectors were below the dregs of society.

 

If you wanted to get something going in Israel these were the last people you would associate with. You wouldn't want to be seen with them, much less eat with them.

 

So where does Jesus go to dinner? To the house of Levi the tax collector. The most stupid thing you could do if you hope to win over Israel with your message. But what if your message is about a God who forgives sinners? You don't just holler down at these sinners from the top of the pit and tell them to repent. You get down in the pit with them and call them to repentance. You eat with them. You do what modern doctors, social workers, lawyers, preachers and church people rarely do, you eliminate the line between the client and the professional.

 

...who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him...

Philippians 2:6-9

 

...and when God exalted his Son he pulled up this net with all sinners Jesus had found and raised them into a new life. The physician had come down to them and now they are being healed. But they couldn't have been healed if the physician hadn't come all the way down to the bottom where they were. Where would we be if he hadn't come down to us?

 

We have a tendency to think that we have one of the deepest nets in town. We look at ourselves and take considerable comfort from the fact that we aren't exactly the cream of Detroit society. But if we will take the trouble to measure our net today we might be shocked to discover that it drops barely five feet. We are in fact rather squeamish. There are more people than we would like to admit whom we are passing by without even seeing because they are simply too repulsive, too unsettling, too ungrateful, too much pain to waste our time with when there are so many bigger, fatter, more interesting fish to catch.

 

And the Pharisees and their, scribes, murmured against his disciple, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  And

Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."             John 5:30-32

 

Nobody can call sinners to repentance until he or she learns to eat with sinners. How do we learn to eat with sinners?

 

1. When we catch ourselves regarding one person as more important than another, to repent of this by deliberately drawing near and paying honor in our heart to the one we've been valuing least.

 

"Wait a minute!" you say. "Didn't Jesus choose twelve disciples out of many? And didn't he choose three out of the twelve to witness his­ transfiguration? Weren't they favored?"

 

Jesus never chose or the basis of opportunism (who can do the most for my image?). " Jesus prayed all night before he chose the twelve, and one of those chosen by divine guidance was a devil. There was no opportunism in it. Nor was anybody ever made to feel rejected by Jesus ... not even Judas. If you want to talk about Jesus favoring anybody, Jesus favored the sinners --- the ones at the mud-bottom of the sea.

 

2. Another, discipline which will help us to learn to eat with sinners is this: When we catch ourselves craving attention from certain people we can always be sure that there are certain other people near by who need our attention, who are being neglected in the process. We need to repent of our vanity by getting on with the ones who need us.

 

When a ruler of the Jews came to Jesus by night this was a tremendous opportunity for Jesus to Make a dent in the potter structure of Jerusalem. Yet not for an instant does Jesus let himself be, carried away by this man's importance in Israel. Jesus dismissed Nicodemus with some hard words because Nicodemus had not yet come to the point of being needy. But when a Samaritan women comes to the well who has nothing to offer Jesus but a drink of water and her own thirsting heart, Jesus stops the universe to give her his full attention. He treats her with far greater honor than he showed to the man who could have given him Jerusalem on a platter.

 

When Nicodemus comes to us we're inclined to fall all over him trying to please and impress. And when the woman at the well shows up, especially if she's lost her bloom, we don't even see her. God help us to learn from Jesus how to be little fish so we can eat and drink with the little fish.

3. A final discipline that helps us to get down to the bottom with our net: When we catch ourselves thinking of anybody as hopeless, to repent and start praying for them until our vision changes. We are to be wise as serpents ... discerning...nor are we to cast our pearls before swine. But we are never to assume to ourselves the prerogative which belongs only to God. We are not to judge, to condemn, to give up on someone in our hearts.

 

"But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny."

Matthew 5:22-26

 

If we're going to be part of the fishing of the Kingdom of God, the net has to go to the bottom and we along with it.

 

"...those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."

 

To get down to the sick, the sinners, the repulsive ones has its price. So much dirt may rub off on us from these fish down in the mud that the world we come from may never want us back. These tax collectors and sinners might turn out to be ungrateful and mean. Only one out of ten or one out of one hundred might repent. But what choice do we have? Has our Master not told us to,

 

"Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.... to the poor and the maimed and the blind and the lame ... to the sick, the demon tormented, the despised "

 

and call them to repentance?

 

And has his Spirit not promised us that as we do we shall see healings such as we have never seen? We shall see the river of salvation flowing through their lives with unspeakable power. We shall see women and men raised out of the depths and made sons and daughters of the living God....  

 

if only we are willing to follow Jesus all the way down.