⁷ All who saw it began to complain, “He’s gone to stay with a sinful man.” (Luke 19:7 CSB)

I was asked once when out with a group of bikers on a Sunday, “Rev, you decided to come out with the sinners today?” My response was, “I am out with the sinners every Sunday, you guys are just a different set of ‘em.”

No matter where we are or who we are with, we are in the company of sinners. The crowd in our scripture were grumbling about Jesus going to have a meal with a tax collector. Elsewhere in scripture they talk about Jesus being around prostitutes, tax collectors and other “less pious” people than themselves. You see, people easily see the sin in others (brother, remove the plank from your own eye before trying to help remove the splinter from another’s) but not in themselves.

If we keep our faith to ourselves what good is it, other than saving ourselves. But what is faith without works? How can we hope to live proper lives of faith if we are not willing to take Christ message to those living in sin. In fact, often the very saints we believe we sit with on Sunday morning are the biggest sinners and in need of our faithful interaction the most.

We have an opportunity to be with sinners every day, look we too are such sinners. Thus, we must be open to being guided by the Spirit to be with those who need us most.