Attraction for the Unsavory

Attraction for the Unsavory


That night Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. (There were many people of this kind among the crowds that followed Jesus.)
Mark 2:15 New Living Translation


We may learn a lot about Jesus based on the types of people he attracted. I find it a strange juxtaposition though, Jesus among sinners. You hardly hear of the saved among sinners in our time. In fact it has been tradition to see a strict separation between the two. In this verse, the distinction has been made that Jesus is dining with the unsavory type, and he has no aversion to them. And likewise, the sinners do not find Jesus to be arrogantly superior. In a way, Jesus seems to be on their side, especially when he faces down the religious leaders of the time. Though Jesus had his close seventy and even closer circles of eleven and three, he still had a larger expanse of diverse contacts that included prostitutes, tax embezzlers, your average run-of-the-mill sinners and religious professionals. Who are your close friends? What sort of people do you attract?

Maybe the type of people Jesus attracted shows us where his passion lived. And for those of us that desire to be like Jesus, this same passion should reside in us. Jesus says he came for those that are ill, not the ones that are well, (spiritually speaking). Maybe we need to develop an attraction for the unsavory? Or in other words, ask God for the same heart condition He has for those that are far from Him.