“15:1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Too often we forget this in the church. We forget it because we forget that we are sinners ourselves. Jesus is a man who receives sinners and eats with them. He still does this today. This is what communion is about, this is why he makes it about the forgiveness of sins. I suppose this is one of the things that perplexes me at times. I get that a person has to be repentant in order to go to communion. I’m often at a loss as to what repentance looks like in any given situation. Rome has requirements, things you have to do to make satisfaction before you can go to communion. In their mind by the time you receive communion there isn’t any sin left to be forgiven, satisfaction has been made. We like to think we don’t have those things in place. But then how often have we thought, if they were repentant they would x. And it is thoughts like those that have me convinced I am the worst sinner of all, because I think I know what repentance looks like. I don’t. I have come to learn that more and more.
One can’t see repentance anymore than one can see faith, because they are one in the same, and we are all sinners in need of forgiveness.
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