Excerpt from Matthew 9:10-12

"When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?'"

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

I have a friend who has terrible taste in friends.  So, I must confess, I usually greet invitations to dinner parties at her home with a bit of dread.  I fear that I will not like the company I will be asked to keep at her table.  Will I once again be asked to sit next to someone whose extreme political views I find hard to stomach?  Or if that conservative Christian is there this time, will he feel as if he has to set me straight yet again?

I just wish this friend of mine were more discriminating.  If she could just have better taste in friends…

Then, of course, eventually I remind myself that I am her friend and that I may benefit from her terrible taste in friends, as well.  The door to her heart is wide enough to accommodate a most motley bunch.  Including me, apparently.

In one particularly pernicious church fight, two contending parties really went at it.  It got ugly.  Divisions widened.  Finally, someone stood up and said, "I figure, if I can put up with the two of you, you ought to be able to put up with one another."

Sometimes it seems like Jesus has terrible taste in friends.  And, of course, I am among them.  But, in essence, Jesus says to the church, "If I can put up with all of you, you ought to be able to put up with one another."

Prayer

Jesus, I am grateful that you eat with sinners, because then I know there is room at the table for me. Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

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