Afterward, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes.  Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”  Levi got up, left everything behind, and followed Him.  Then, Levi threw a great banquet for Jesus in his home.  A large number of tax collectors and others sad down to eat with them.  The Pharisees and their legal experts grumbled against His disciples.  They said, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”  Jesus answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do.  I didn’t come to call righteous people but sinners to change their hearts and lives.”

Religion bothers me!  And so do the religious!  In Luke 5, Luke, a disciple of Paul, describes a party.  Can’t you just see it?  A tax collector has discovered a new identity as a follower of Jesus of Nazareth.  Immediately, he thinks of all the others like himself, and invites them to meet the Master.  Those who are disenfranchised have been brought near to the Kingdom.  There is a party over at Levi’s house and the itinerant Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth, is laughing and talking and rubbing elbows with a courtyard full of tax collectors.

Now, just around the corner are the religious, the Pharisees.  With long faces and accusing attitudes, they seem to be looking for anyone having fun.  The music is too loud.  It’s not the right kind of music.  The guest are tattooed or pierced.  The aren’t well groomed and their hair is too long.  They’re not dressed properly.  Now, this is what the Pharisees see, not the fact that a courtyard full of sinners is interacting with a holy man, Jesus of Nazareth.  So, they complain.  And like many complaints, it is veiled in a question: “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Do you ever wonder where Jesus would be if He visited your community?  I’m sure the Baptists think He’d certainly visit their church; and the Methodists know for certain He’d visit theirs.  He’d attend every revival, every special program.  With the right hand of fellowship, He’d pat us good little Christians on the head and tell us all just how right we’ve been all these years!  Right? …. WRONG!

I think He’d certainly visit our churches because He visited Israel’s synagogues often and routinely.  But I know we’d see Him hanging out in bars.  We’d see Him sitting in a circle of homeless people in the center of a vacant lot.  We’d see Him coming out of the home of a woman of questionable reputation.  We’d see Him attempting to ride skateboards with the goth kids.  And all the while, He’d be laughing with those who laugh and crying with those who cry.  Those arms of love and acceptance would embrace people we’ve long ago rejected or ignored.  That’s where Jesus would be!   Cause that’s where the sick people are!

And where would we, religious people, be?  Peeping around every corner, ready to condemn the love, acceptance, and generosity of Jesus.  Why, you can’t do that!  You can’t hang out with those people!  But He did!  And He would!  And He does!  And the question remains unanswered …
If we know that’s where Jesus would be (and that’s where Jesus is), then why aren’t we there?

O God, help us!  We, your people, have become the very thing we detest … Pharisees!  We so quickly size people up and put them in categories that we can understand and control.  We determine so quickly and so superficially who is on “the inside” and who we must keep on “the outside.”  Forgive us!  And give us the courage to see the world and all its people through your eyes.  Help us to walk among the “tax collectors and sinners” of our community so that we might rub elbows with you!  For the sake of our souls and your Kingdom work, we pray … Amen.