Digging Deeper – Jesus Doesn’t Hate Tax Collectors

Sometimes, it’s hard to see the good in people. Or maybe it’s just me.

A couple of years ago, someone suggested a TV show to me and told me how great it was. They described the show’s general plot, and it sounded exciting, so I gave it a watch. Three episodes in, I quit watching. When my friend asked me how I liked it, I admitted that I gave up because all the characters were so bad and kept making wrong choices. I couldn’t root for them or find a hero. Then my friend responded that this was exactly why they watched—it would be great if one of them had a change of heart. My friend saw the potential for good in them. I just saw broken people.

When Jesus was faced with tax collectors—the people everyone considered the worst kind—He always used them to show that no one is beyond redemption when God is in the equation.

Look at when Jesus meets a tax collector earlier in Luke:

Luke 5:27-31
“After this, he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. 29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at the table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ 31 And Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’”

This tax collector not only followed Jesus but also invited a bunch of his tax collector friends. Jesus’ approach to sinners—viewing them as sick people in need of healing—was very different from the Pharisees’ approach of shunning and shaming them. This tax collector is identified elsewhere in the Gospels as Matthew, who became one of Jesus’ disciples.

A few chapters later in Luke, we see another contrast in attitudes in this parable:

Luke 18:9-14
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt: 10 ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.’”

And we see this again with Zacchaeus, the sinner and outcast whom Jesus calls by name:

Luke 19:5-10
“And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.’ 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, ‘He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.’ 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’ 9 And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’”

The world saw sinners, but Jesus saw future saints.

What would our lives look like if we saw people with the same potential as Jesus?

Take a moment and pray. Pray that God will give you eyes to see past the sins of the people around you and recognize their potential. Pray that you will be able to set aside your negative opinions of others and begin to view them as sick people in need of a physician. Pray that Jesus will start to change their hearts, just as He did with the tax collectors.