EXPLORE IT! - Luke 15:1-2

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”

Luke 15:1-2

There are several examples within the Gospels where Jesus is seen reversing the binary oppositions (e.g., righteous, sinners) of the day as they were interpreted by the Pharisees. These verses in Luke’s Gospel have parallel passages in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. These parallel passages give us a little more insight into the context of the Pharisees’ statement.

In the story of the calling of Levi (aka Matthew), Jesus is seen eating at Levi’s house among the tax collectors and “sinners.” The Pharisees observe this and point out to his disciples the questionable company he is keeping (Mark 2:15-6). Jesus responds by saying, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 17).

In saying this, Jesus is reversing the binary opposition of “healthy over sick.” He instead places greater significance on the sick. This does not necessarily lower the importance of the healthy, however, since the obvious goal is to make the sick people into healthy people. It does say, though, that the sick people are just as important as the healthy people, and that God cares just as much about the sick as He does the healthy, or that He cares just as much about “sinners” as He does the righteous.

Jesus also reverses the binary oppositions of “first and last” a number of times within the Gospels. At another time, Jesus asks his disciples what they were arguing about on the road, but they keep silent because they had been arguing about which one of them was the greatest. Jesus then says to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Jesus reverses the binary opposition from “first over last” to “last over first” and in doing so places the position of “servant” into a position of honor.

Jesus loves the sick and the sinners. The Pharisees just didn’t get that. They wouldn’t admit that they were just as sick and sinful as everyone else.