After Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector, to be His disciple, there were “many tax collectors and sinners” who were “dining with Jesus and His disciples” (Matthew 9:9-10). The Pharisees questioned this, asking why Jesus was associating with such people (Matthew 9:11).
Jesus’ critics did not ask Him this directly, but Jesus heard it and addressed it. He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13).
Jesus provides an important example for us, but we need to understand the purpose behind His association with these individuals. They were labeled as “sinners,” but He did not participate in their sin. When He associated with them, He made it clear that He was not condoning or encouraging their sinful behavior. Instead, He called them “to repentance” (Luke 5:32).
So remember why Jesus associated with sinners. His goal was to turn them from their sin so that they could follow Him. In the same way, we do not want to encourage anyone with whom we associate to continue in sin; instead, we want to encourage them to repent and follow Christ.