Mark 2:13-17 (NIV)
Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. [14] As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. [15] While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. [16] When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” [17] On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I like Jesus. I known he is

not a tame lion

as CS Lewis would say, but I trust his personality. I draw comfort from his anger and his grief, his compassion and his sense of humor. The best way to see Matthew is as a money launderer or an IRS auditor. Maybe an unscrupulous politician. He had sold out for cold cash. All these people Jesus was hanging out with were bad guys. Why would God hang out with the bad guys?

He answers the question with an incisive elegance: the sick need a doctor, the sinner needs a savior.

Good news for me, I am a dying mess, a real disaster. So grateful he is willing to hang with me.

Not just with…for.