John Kilgallen, «Was Jesus Right to Eat with Sinners and Tax Collectors?», Vol. 93 (2012) 590-600
All Jewish religious teachers wanted sinners to repent; how one achieves this was disputed, as was Jesus’ choosing to associate with sinners in their houses and at their meals. Four times Luke describes Jesus as fraternizing with sinners, which violated Jewish pious practice. The first three times (chaps. 5, 7 and 15) Jesus underlines his motive for this conduct and its value; the fourth time (chap. 19), and rather late in the Gospel, Luke shows that indeed Jesus’ method proved true, i.e. the wisdom of his conduct was shown justified by repentant children of God.
- «Acts 28,28 — Why?» 2009 176-187
- «Luke 20,13 and i1swj» 2008 263-264
- «Luke wrote to Rome – a Suggestion» 2007 251-255
- «What Does It Mean to Say That There Are Additions in Luke 7,36-50?» 2005 529-535
- «Hostility to Paul in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13,45) — Why?» 2003 1-15
- «Martha and Mary: Why at Luke 10,38-42?» 2003 554-561
- «‘With many other words’ (Acts 2,40): Theological Assumptions in Peter’s Pentecost Speech» 2002 71-87
- «The Obligation to Heal (Luke 13,10-17)» 2001 402-409
- «`The Apostles Whom He Chose because of the Holy Spirit'
A Suggestion Regarding Acts 1,2» 2000 414-417
- «The Strivings of the Flesh
(Galatians 5,17)» 1999 113-114
- «Jesus First Trial: Messiah and Son of God (Luke 22,66-71)» 1999 401-414
- «The Importance of the Redactor in Luke 18,9-14» 1998 69-75
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WAS JESUS RIGHT TO EAT WITH SINNERS AND TAX COLLECTORS?
Four times Luke presents disagreement, if not conflict, over Jesus’
practice of eating with sinners and tax collectors, of fraternizing with these
people beyond what “the pious†would be allowed to do. He is brought
to task by no one group, but by a variety of critics: Pharisees and their
Scribes (5,30), people of this generation (7,31), Pharisees and Scribes
(15,2) and a crowd (19,7); the Pharisees, it is clear, are his major oppo-
nents in this matter. Each of Luke’s stories containing Jesus’ eating with
sinners and fraternizing with them has, as part of the narration, a justifi-
cation of Jesus’ practice. Luke intends to show not only that Jesus has
acted correctly before sinners, but preferably so.
With the Levi incident we have clearly the purpose for which Jesus is
engaged in what might, within traditional Jewish moral traditions, be con-
sidered against Jewish practice and the Divine Will. Indeed, it is by that
Divine Will that he explains his action as obedience. Also present is the
suggestion that Levi (possibly others) has repented and begun to show a
moral change, but this is left to the judgment of the reader and not demon-
strated, for the moral life is not a concern of this story.
The second reference of interest comes from a description, presumably
true, of “this generationâ€: it charges Jesus with eating and consorting with
sinners. In this case, such a conduct is reason for not having faith in Jesus,
for such conduct is not approved by God. This story affords Luke the op-
portunity to argue that Jesus does indeed achieve God’s desire for repen-
tance; one need only to look to the repentant to find one who has become
God’s child. No attempt is made or need be made to cite examples of re-
pentance; it is enough to give the reason that justifies Jesus’ conduct.
The third moment of this repeated criticism occurs when, in pursuit
of sinners’ repentance, Jesus is observed by Pharisees and Scribes to ‘wel-
come sinners and eat with them’ (15,2). This criticism introduces three
famous parables. This trio of imaginary stories shows no interest in de-
tailing repentant morality 21; what it does is show the results of repentance,
particularly from the viewpoint of Heaven. These parables are meant to
encourage those sinners who listen favorably to Jesus, but equally they
are meant to make clear to Jesus’ critics the supreme value of his efforts
to encourage repentance. True, there is the young son who for his less
than exalted reasons seeks forgiveness, but the parables do not describe
morality which is the fruit of repentance. For such a description we must
look elsewhere. Here, however, we do learn to understand and appreciate
the single-minded goodness of Jesus.
The immediacy with which the story of the Pharisee and forgiven
21
woman follows upon Jesus’ response to the criticism of “this generation†in-
dicates that Luke means to show the fruit of Jesus’ preaching repentance to
this woman; she is, in other words, a fine example of the children who justify
Wisdom ― yet she is not pictured as is Zacchaeus, who follows his repen-
tance with practice.
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