Of Jesus, John the Baptist, Pharisees, Tax Collectors, and Sinners

Easily one of the most wonderful and glorious truths about Jesus in the Gospels is that He was a friend of sinners. Indeed, His most vocal opponents, the Pharisees, questioned and derided Jesus because of this.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

(Matthew 9:10-13 NIV)

Clearly Jesus was more than willing to associate with those whom the larger society had deemed undesirable and unforgivable, and to forgive them. More on this later.

In addition to the occasion referenced above, other episodes in the earthly life and ministry of Jesus illustrate His compassion toward social outcasts like prostitutes, tax collectors (who collaborated with the hated, occupying Romans), Samaritans, gentiles, lepers, the blind, the crippled, and others who are simply called "sinners". For example, Jesus healed the daughter of a Canaanite woman from demonic possession (Matthew 15:21-28), a leper from his leprosy (Mark 1:40-45), the servant of a Roman centurion (Luke 7:1-10), forgave a sinful woman of her sins (Luke 7:36-50), dined with and forgave Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke 19:1-10), as well as conversed with a Samaritan woman about Living Water (John 4:4-26), and forgave the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53-8:11, though there are questions of textual variation which surround this account).

But it is not only in the ministry of the incarnate Son of God where we find this willingness from God to forgive and accept the socially unacceptable. The Apostle Paul tells the Roman Christians to, Live in harmony with one another, Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited (Romans 12:16). Elsewhere, Paul says, Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are... (1 Corinthians 1:26-28).

At the risk of belaboring the point, even the Old Testament provides evidence of God's mercy for outcasts.

David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader 

(1 Samuel 22:1-2 NIV).

Now in contrast to the compassion and mercy of Jesus was the smug self-righteousness of the Pharisees. It is well known that they were the primary antagonists to Jesus during His earthly ministry. And it is also well noted that their antagonism to Jesus was at least partly due to the way He openly associated Himself with those who were considered by the Pharisees to be "sinners", especially the hated tax collectors (Luke 15:1-2). Of course the Pharisees' self-righteousness was broader than their disdain for common sinners and Roman collaborators, but this was nevertheless a major bone of contention.

Even so, with all of this biblical data, one can excuse me if I find incredulous the many ways these facts are often twisted out of biblical proportion and used to justify all kinds of compromise, muddled thinking, half-truths, and even outright falsehoods (the theological left is particularly guilty of this, though certainly not alone). What I hope to do in this article is to challenge common assumptions about Christ's interactions with Pharisees and the tax collectors and sinners, and find some contemporary application. 

Let's talk about the Pharisees first. It is often just assumed that the modern equivalent to the Pharisees are religious (especially Christian) Fundamentalists. Now to be sure, that can be and often is one very relevant contemporary application. But what if I told you that it's not that simple? I am convinced that a Pharisee is anyone who adds to the Word of God through tradition, and/or nullifies the Word of God through that tradition, and/or trusts that they are "good people" and looks down at others who are "sinners" - and they may or may not be religious!

Now of course a modern day pharisee may not exemplify all of these traits in exactly the same way. But consider that last characteristic - that a modern pharisee may not be religious. How could I possibly say that? Isn't a pharisee by definition someone who is religiously conservative? Actually, not necessarily. I don't know about you, but I have met plenty of non-religious secular people who, trust in themselves that they are righteous and despise others (Luke 18:9). I know of plenty of people with no discernible religious affiliation who look down on other people for not being as "loving" as they are, or not as "tolerant" or not as #woke, or some other pretentious secular value. Now someone will object that the Religious Right is full of hypocrites and bigots. I will buy that. My purpose is not to excuse evil or hypocrisy from the Fox News-loving crowd. But I can find just as much, if not more, pharisaism from the CNN-loving crowd!

And what about the "sinners"? Certainly in the days that Jesus walked the earth, they were usually found among the morally loose segments of society. But it seems to me that the modern versions of the "tax collectors and sinners" are those whom the larger society as a whole (not just the religious crowd) considers too dirty to associate with, whatever the specifics of their sin. I would venture to say that white supremacists are just one example of contemporary "tax collectors and sinners".

Now I am not trying to be edgy here, or do any kind of "shock jock" routine. The reason I say it is because to really understand the compassion of Jesus toward tax collectors and sinners, one must first feel the outrage at what they were guilty of. So let's consider the tax collectors (of whom was Matthew, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb, whose names are written on the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem - Revelation 21:14). Do you really know and understand just how evil and disgusting these people were? They had sold out their people and had collaborated with the brutal, oppressive occupation of the Romans. These tax collectors had gotten unbelievably rich off of bilking hard-working men and women out of their rightfully earned wages. They had turned social injustice and systemic oppression into an art. They could make even the most shady of con artists blush with embarrassment. To the common Jew in the 1st century, the tax collectors were traitors, collaborators, and swindlers. All of their fancy clothes and jewelry was paid for by the toil and labor of people who could barely feed their families. To be honest, one could almost understand the offended reaction of the Pharisees at seeing Jesus eat a meal with them. They truly deserved their reputations.

Is it really that much different with the outright, in-your-face racism of white supremacist groups? Consider how offensive and abominable they are. Consider how evil is the level of hatred and murder toward others simply over the color of their skin! Ponder how disgusting and outrageous it is to violate the image of God in other human beings because they come from a different country or culture, or speak a different language. Think of the visceral reaction their Satanic symbols, flags, banners, and salutes engender within you. Now imagine if the Son of God, the Messiah, the One promised to come to save and deliver - imagine if he had dinner at the house of one of their leaders. Picture Jesus eating at his dinner table and promising him full forgiveness and cleansing if he would simply confess his sin, give up everything, and follow. Imagine the outrage! Think of the scandal!

Or imagine if Jesus were to have lunch with an A-list celebrity or high-level corporate big shot that has just recently been credibly accused by multiple women of sexual assault and showering forgiveness and grace on that person! Maybe now we can appreciate what it was like when Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners.

But why did Jesus associate so freely with people who so richly deserved their place at the bottom of the social ladder? It isn't a big secret.  It is because, unlike the pharisees, the tax collectors and "sinners" were most acutely aware of their sinfulness and most eager to repent and to receive Christ's forgiveness. There were no religious sensibilities; and there was no social cachet that they could hide behind. The pharisees by contrast, believed themselves already to be "good people" and not in really in any substantial need of repentance and forgiveness. To be honest, at least in my experience, this is less like a Christian Fundamentalist and more like a leftist liberal (whether secular or "Christian").

But more than that, I would argue that most of the tax collectors and sinners were already in a penitent state even before Jesus came to them. And that is because before the "tax collectors and sinners" responded to Jesus, they first responded to John the Baptist.

What do I mean by that? Well, to answer that question, we first have to understand the purpose of the ministry of John the Baptist in relation to that of Jesus. John the Baptist was sent before Jesus as the "forerunner". His ministry was to "prepare the way" for the Messiah, so that the people of Israel could be ready to receive him. But John did not just appear in a vacuum. The Old Testament Scriptures had predicted his coming:

A voice of one calling: "In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
(Isaiah 40:3-5 NIV)

"I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. 
(Malachi 3:1 NIV)

God had promised the people of Israel to bring them back from exile and to return to them and forgive them of all their sins through the ministry of the "Servant" (Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-7; 52:13-53:12). However, before the Servant/Messiah could come, the way had to be prepared for his coming through the ministry of a herald, or forerunner - as Isaiah and Malachi predicted. 

And that is exactly what John did. He preached to the people that they should repent of their sins and receive ceremonial washing through baptism (Mark 1:4). But the interesting thing is that the New Testament records that large crowds came out to him to be baptized from Jerusalem and from the area surrounding it (Matthew 3:5). The Gospel writer Luke goes into greater detail though. Luke gives examples of the kinds of people who came to John to be baptized:

 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.

Luke 3:10-13 NIV

According to this text, even the hated tax collectors had gone to John the Baptist to receive his baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This indicates that they received Jesus and His ministry out of an already penitent and prepared heart. The other reason this is relevant is when one considers just what kind of preacher John was that "prepared" the people of Israel to meet their Messiah. John was, if you will, a true hellfire and brimstone preacher of repentance. Far from glossing over sin, he was easily a take-no-prisoners, black-and-white Old Testament Prophet. Just before the above exchange, John had been preaching this:

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Luke 3:7-9 NIV

And before we so easily dismiss John the Baptist as being some legalistic meanie, I should point out that Jesus explicitly endorsed John and connected his ministry with preparing the tax collectors and sinners to receive the Gospel:

 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Matthew 21:28-32 NIV

Or consider this:

After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces.  But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:

“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,

    who will prepare your way before you.’

 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

(All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

Luke 7:24-30 NIV

As these Scriptures show, John's no-holds-barred preaching of repentance was what led to the repentance of the tax collectors, which prepared them to receive the grace that Jesus offered to them. This angered the sanctimonious, self-righteous pharisees, who now rejected Jesus, just as they had previously rejected John. This also tells us that preaching repentance from sin and the reality of Final Judgment is in harmony with the ministry of Jesus, despite what much popular piety would have us believe. 

To summarize, it is evident that the wishy-washy platitudes of those who most loudly proclaim to imitate Jesus in receiving "tax collectors and sinners" do not accurately understand what was really happening in the ministry of the Lord. They may think that they are following Jesus, but they are actually following the wisdom of this world, which will perish. While it is true that extreme Fundamentalism can and does exhibit a pharisaic spirit, it is equally true that pharisaism is very much at home in a liberal, "progressive" environment.

But ultimately the takeaway must be that the grace of Jesus is available to all who are willing to receive it by faith, in humility recognizing their need for forgiveness. The self-righteous and arrogant, whether they be religious fundamentalists, so-called "Progressive" Christians, secular SJWs, or just the man on the street, will find themselves without a wedding garment (Matthew 22:11-14) unless they too come to humility and repentance. Amen.