Luke 5:30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? We cannot wonder at the scribes and Pharisees asking this question. I think that we should most of us ask it now, if we saw the Lord Jesus going out of His way to eat and drink with publicans and sinners. Make merry with them He could not, but He certainly so behaved to them that they were glad to have Him among them, though He was so unlike them in thought, and word, and look, and action. And why? Because, though He was so unlike them in many things, He was like them at least in one thing. If He could do nothing else in common with them, He could at least eat and drink as they did, and eat and drink with them too. Yes. He was the Son of Man, the man of all men, and what He wanted to make them understand was that, fallen low as they were, they were men and women still, who were made at first in God's likeness, and who could be redeemed back into God's likeness again. The only way to do that was to begin with them in the very simplest way — to meet them on common human ground. Self-respect would begin to rise in those poor sinners' hearts when our Lord came to them and ate and drank with them. (Charles Kingsley.) Parallel Verses KJV: But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? |
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