Jesus knew how to break bread with sinners

There is a separatism that can infuse a Christian walk when one attempts to live a life of virtue. Many aspects of life are left behind, some are behaviours, some entertainments, others separate themselves from people they once freely associated with. Behaviours and entertainments are usually cast aside, never to be associated with again. People are usually associated with again, but often with a view to evangelism that can often take the form of rebuke when a person isn’t deemed to be acting with righteousness.

Contrast this with Jesus sitting down to dinner with the sinners in Matthew 9:10. Note how the people were drawn to Jesus, rather than Jesus placing himself in their midst for the purpose of calling out their sin. There’s also no indication that he sat there critiquing their conversation or lives for lack of righteousness. He was simply spending time with the people.

The lack of rebuke in his action towards the sinners drew incredulity from the Pharisees. It appears they felt the sinners presence would taint their company unless they were offering the kind of judgement that they were also intent to level on Jesus.

This view is usually countered by those who claim their Christian mission is to separate the wheat from the chaff, or the sheep from the goats. If you take a closer look at the two scriptures, they are more warnings to the church establishment than a warning to unrepentant sinners. John was speaking directly to the Pharisees and Sadducees when speaking of separating the wheat from the chaff. As for separating the sheep from the goats? Those separated are those of us, Christians, who didn’t do more to help those in need. How can we meet the demand of welcoming strangers when our first words them are of rebuke, or our attitude to those in prison is that they deserve to be there with no mercy? It’s also dangerous to claim this part of Jesus’ stated mission as ones providence. We have no business designating who is wheat from chaff or sheep from goats. That is judgement, and outside of our purview.

We shouldn’t isolate ourselves at the expense of our empathy. How can we learn to love those we would share God’s love with if our interaction centres around our desire to either evangelise or rebuke? These are not the ways of those who would welcome a stranger, or clothe the naked. Sometimes the door opens simply through being humble enough to sit down and break bread in peace.