Friday, 7/5/13
Every manner of person has his or her code that defines
proper and improper behavior. For Boston “hit men” killing for money is just
good business. For stylish people wearing a striped shirt with plaid trousers
is very sinful.
When the Pharisee in today’s Gospel asked, “Why does your
master eat with sinners?” he was putting his moral code on view. That code of
his saw pork and shell fish as unclean things; and it not only saw anyone
consuming such things to be unclean, it saw anyone mixing with such people as
unclean. In his eyes Jesus was making himself unclean by his dining with
unclean people.
The code Jesus lived by didn’t turn away from such
uncleanness. What it turned from other than sinfulness was unkind behavior. He
had urged Matthew to leave tax collecting to follow him, but he paid the other
tax collectors the compliment of dining with them. He knew that tax collecting
was needed to maintain orderly lives for millions of citizens, and he knew the tax
collectors he dined with were doing their best to support their families.
What offended him was the way the Pharisees scorned people,
hurting their feelings.
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