Friend of Sinners

The religious leaders watched Jesus with disbelief. He welcomed the people they avoided

— the outcasts, the broken, the ones labeled “unclean.” Tax collectors.

Sinners. The rejected. They muttered under their breath: “This man receives

sinners and eats with them.” But Jesus was not ashamed of this title.

He embraced it. One day, Jesus passed a tax booth and saw Matthew sitting there —

a man despised by his own nation. Jesus looked at him and simply said: “Follow Me.”

Matthew stood up instantly, leaving everything behind. Later that evening,

Jesus sat at Matthew’s table surrounded by tax collectors and sinners. The room filled