Feb 9 - To Dine With Sinners

Mt 9:9-12

Context: Jesus has just returned home, and he forgave the sins of a paralyzed man. The Pharisees were shocked at his words, and in turn he healed the man. (This may have been the man whose friends lowered down through a hole in the roof as described in Mark 2:1-12).

9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
12On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

When is the last time you ate with sinners? Well, I mean the last time you ate with sinners who weren't saved! Some of you do this every day at work during lunch time. Others may not have done it since your last family gathering. Some are brave enough to eat with strangers regularly so they can witness during the meal (that would NOT be me!).

Do you eat differently, act differently, when you are surrounded by those who have not accepted Jesus' grace? Do you bow your head and pray before your meal even when no one else does (and I don't mean that quick "Thanks for this food" that you do in the hallway before you get to the cafeteria or in your head while your eyes are open and you are smiling at others....)?

It's a really hard call to know whether to act like those around you so that you can fit in and maybe make an impact that way, or to demonstrate right up front that you are different so they can ask why. I've found that when I 'try to fit in' and do that quick head prayer, I usually end up feeling guilty, so that must not be the right answer for me. How do you decide?