A Friend of Publicans

"Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just" (Lk. 14:12-14). I wonder who really lives by this kind of rule as a thing of true preference and reality. I can tell you one thing; the heart that is after God finds itself perfectly at home in this scenario, because the heart that is after God does not respect the persons or things of men, but rather the things that are of God. And if I have to reference scriptures here to show that God has always favored the downtrodden and needy, then you need to be reading the Bible more. But I will give you a passage that brings home the point quite effectively: "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?" (Jas. 2:1-5). Do you realize who it was that gravitated to Jesus when he came? "And Levi [Matthew] made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them" (Lk. 5:29).

That is correct, it was people like the despised Publicans, of which was Matthew himself, that took to Jesus. And do you know who thought ill of Jesus because he received such? “But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?” (Lk. 5:30). And what did Jesus have to say about the despite of the religious higher ups that was shown to him for gladly receiving the lowly? “And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Lk. 5:31,32). So those who THOUGHT they were whole remained sick, and those who knew they were sick wanted the cure, which cure is to drink of the living waters that Jesus came to make available (Jn. 4:10,14; Jn. 7:38,39; I Cor. 12:13; Rev. 22:17). Jesus said it in another place like this: “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (Jn. 9:39). It doesn’t get more serious than that, seeing that sin is the sickness, and true literal deliverance FROM sin is the cure. This is the case especially because “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). As it was when Jesus was here, so it is now. It is usually the downtrodden, the lowly, and the outcasts who are willing to acknowledge their need and get the cure, while those who have a religious cloak for their sins will reject it in favor of the traditions and doctrines of men that do NOT deliver from sin. And those who truly have the cure to offer will be found, not with the religious elite, but with those who know they are sick and are looking for the cure. Amen.