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Hi everyone. 
Welcome again to our podcast, 

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thanks for tuning in. 
I hope you're really enjoying 

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this way of looking at the Bible
and looking at the lectionary, I

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think it's always so important 
to start with the literal sense 

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of the text. 
And that's what we do in this 

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podcast. 
So let's jump into today's 

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reading which is Luke. 25 verses
27 to 32. 

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Jesus noticed a tax collector 
Levi by name, sitting by the 

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customs house and said to him, 
follow me and leaving everything

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he got up and followed him. 
In his honor, Levi held a great 

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reception in his house and with 
them at table was the large 

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Gathering of tax collectors and 
sinners. 

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The Pharisees and the scribes 
complained to his disciples and 

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said, why do you eat and drink 
with tax collectors and sinners?

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Jesus said to them in reply. 
It is not those who are, well, 

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who need the doctor, but the 
sick, I have not come to call 

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The Virtuous. 
But Sinners to repentance So 

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let's start by asking, what's 
the context? 

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What has just been happening in 
Luke? 

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So, at this point, Jesus is 
walking around the Villages of 

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the Sea of Galilee preaching. 
He's becoming more and more 

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popular and we introduced or 
Jesus notices someone sitting by

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the Sea who is a tax collector. 
So, what a tax collectors, these

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were Jews who essentially worked
for the Romans. 

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They were hired by the Romans to
collect taxes from the Jews. 

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And the Jews didn't like, Tax 
Collectors for three reasons. 

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So, they worked for the Romans 
that automatically makes them an

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enemy of the Jews. 
They take people's money, and no

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one likes that. 
And thirdly, they had a habit of

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corrupting. 
The taxes is in. 

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There were take more than they 
were supposed to and keep some 

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of the money for themself. 
So the tax collectors were not 

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liked In Israel. 
And to be honest to be a tax 

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collector, you usually have to 
be fairly sneaky, perhaps 

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Wicked, kind of person to enter 
into that kind of into that kind

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of field of work and that's 
probably what Levi is Levi's. 

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Probably a bit of a nasty 
person, although we don't know 

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that speculation. 
So the Jews assume Tax 

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Collectors to be Sinners 
automatically, just because they

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work for the Romans that puts 
them in base, make some Sinners 

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automatically. 
So Jesus notices a tax collector

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whose name is Levi. 
In other gospels, he's called 

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Matthew. 
So this is the author of The 

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Gospel of Matthew. 
So Luke here is introducing us 

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to the character of Matthew. 
And Matthew doesn't say anything

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here, but as you'll soon, see he
does do something quite profound

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and he's sitting by the customs 
house or another translation of 

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that is a tax office. 
So he is Levi, sitting in a tax 

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office and this particular one 
is located strategically. 

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E on a major trade route on on 
the border with Philips 

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territory. 
So that in Harrods territory and

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there on the border of Philips 
territory, the ran through 

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Capernaum. 
So, Capernaum. 

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Jesus, sort of base of 
operations is actually right on 

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the highway of a really 
important trade route. 

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And a lot of people would pass 
through there. 

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They'll be a lot of taxing going
on because they're moving from 

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one territory to another, and 
these little boxes, these toll 

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boxes or tax officers were where
they collected the taxes. 

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And they probably also collected
taxes associated with fishing 

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because capernum is a fishing 
Village. 

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Now it's estimated that the 
combined tax on the Jews. 

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At this particular time in 
history was something. 

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If you factor in the fact that 
they had a temple tax imposed by

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the Pharisees, they had Harrods 
taxes for living in Harrods area

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and then the Roman taxes to 
support the Roman army. 

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If you add that all together 
Scholars, reckon that the Jews 

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at this time, had to give up a 
third of the person's income, 

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which I guess is not that unlike
our culture today, really. 

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So they're in a similar 
position. 

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In, in terms of taxes. 
So Jesus sees leave either in 

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the tax office, and he simply 
says to him, follow me, that's 

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all he says, and Levi gets up 
straight away and follows him. 

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And he leaves the text says, he 
leaves everything behind so, 

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it's not clear, whether Levi 
knew who Jesus was It has he 

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heard of Jesus, maybe, but 
something about Jesus made him 

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leave his livelihood and follow 
him immediately, he drops 

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everything leaves his old life 
behind and follows Jesus 

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straight away. 
That's quite admirable for 

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someone who makes a living 
deceiving people, and taking 

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people's money. 
So it's quite an amazing 

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conversion story. 
If you really think about it, 

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it's very similar to reaction to
the fishermen. 

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Remember Jesus, when he calls 
the fisherman, says follow me 

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and they dropped their Nets and 
they follow him straight away. 

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So Matthew or Levi's reaction 
here is quite similar to 

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something. 
Jesus as later in Luke, which is

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every one of you who does not 
renounce all his possessions 

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cannot be my disciple. 
So Levi is kind of a model of 

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what Jesus expects his disciples
to be. 

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Verse 29, the scene changes, 
Levi made him a great feast in 

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his house. 
So Levi, invites, Jesus back to 

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his house and with them at table
was a large Gathering of tax 

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collectors, and others. 
So there's heaps of people here 

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at this Feast. 
There's probably lots of people 

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that worked on preparing. 
This big Feast Jesus is there 

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with all of his disciples and 
levite is just so happy that 

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Jesus has called him. 
So he puts on a feast, So, 

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what's going on here? 
Why are there tax collectors and

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others at the table? 
Well, many of Jesus close 

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followers are here at the table.
And by this time, some of Jesus 

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followers included tax 
collectors and sinners. 

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Now, that's not his Apostles, 
the word here is disciples or 

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followers, who are those kind of
in the Outer Circle of Jesus 

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ministry. 
So they follow him around full 

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time but they're not one of the 
12 apostles by this time. 

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Some of these disciples were tax
collectors, and Sinners and 

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obviously, the Pharisees don't 
like that. 

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So the Pharisees and the scribes
now, who are they? 

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The Pharisees are considered to 
be the leaders of the common 

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Jewish people. 
The popular interpreters of the 

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law and they did actually have 
Jewish Authority, whatever. 

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The Pharisees said is what the 
Jews were expected to do. 

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So the Pharisees at all sorts of
rules about, who counted as holy

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and who counted as a sinner. 
And the Very experts among the 

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Pharisees were called scribes. 
So the scribes were experts in 

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the Old Testament writings, so 
the Pharisees and the scribes 

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murmured against his disciples. 
And then they asked Jesus a 

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question. 
They not happy about the 

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disciples they say to Jesus. 
Why do you eat now? 

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What is eating mean in that 
culture? 

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Eating with someone means you're
welcoming them into their house 

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and basically means you're 
accepting them. 

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So in the Pharisees asked Jesus 
here, why do you eat with them, 

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what they really mean is, why do
you accept these people? 

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Why do you eat and drink with 
tax collectors and Sinners? 

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And it's a fair question because
their line of thinking is 

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probably something like this. 
If you are indeed sent by God, 

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why, why do you associate with 
Sinners? 

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That does not seem to make 
sense. 

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God is, Holy, Sinners are not. 
Holy if you're sent from God, 

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why would you associate with the
sinners? 

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So the fact that Jesus accepts 
Sinners, obviously there's a lot

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of theological implications 
here. 

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The fact that he's calling 
sinners in and that Sinners are 

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accepting the call indicates his
power to call people to 

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repentance And this is his 
response to the Pharisees. 

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It is not those who are well, 
that need the doctor, but the 

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sick. 
Now, if Jesus just left it at 

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that, we wouldn't really 
necessarily know what he means. 

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But luckily, he goes on to 
explain that metaphor in the 

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very next breath. 
By the way, that's something you

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always want to look for 
particularly in Parables of 

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Jesus, says something cryptic 
read on straight afterwards and 

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see if he interprets it, because
if he interprets it, that's the 

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interpretation. 
We have to go with rather than 

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making up our own sometimes. 
Times, he interprets. 

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What? 
He's just said for us. 

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Sometimes he doesn't in this 
case, he does, though, I have 

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not come to call The Virtuous, 
but Sinners to repentance. 

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Now, by the way, Luke himself is
a physician. 

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He's a doctor. 
So insignificant here that Luke 

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mentions this phrase about the 
doctors, but Jesus says, it 

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means I have not come to call 
The Virtuous. 

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But Sinners to repentance, 
notice that I have not come to 

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call The Virtuous, but I have 
come to call the Sinners to 

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repentance. 
So, Whole mission is to get 

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those who have wandered far from
God, to come back to him, to 

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repent. 
So, in this case, in this 

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context, he's talking about tax 
collectors, and sinners. 

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Jesus has come to call, people 
like that, to be his disciples. 

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Now, as the parable of the 
Prodigal Son, illustrates some 

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people, at the time of Jesus 
were already in God's favor, the

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older brother in the parable as 
much as he's grumpy in the 

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parable, if you know, the 
parable of the Prodigal Son, the

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father says, all that you have 
is all that I have is yours and 

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that indicates that this the 
older brother was in the favor 

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of God already. 
So in the time of Jesus, there 

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were people who are already 
righteous with God. 

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We need to be okay with that. 
Sometimes you'll hear it say 

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that no one was good. 
Good enough for God at that 

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particular time in history and 
that's what Jesus came to fix. 

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That's not true. 
I Think Jesus teaching here. 

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Makes it clear that there were 
some virtuous righteous people 

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in the time of Jesus, but Jesus 
has come to focus on those who 

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aren't and who need to come back
to being righteous. 

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So the Messiah has come to 
restore those who are outside of

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God's favor and to bring them 
back into God's kingdom, notice 

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what he's calling the Sinners 
to, I've come not to call The 

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Virtuous, but Sinners to 
repentance, he's calling them to

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do something to repent. 
So it's not just calling them to

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be his disciple and go to a few,
Banquets or something. 

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He's calling them to repentance.
That's his ultimate goal here is

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that they would change and turn 
to God. 

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We always need to keep that in 
mind when we when we talk about 

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accepting Sinners and things 
like that, the call According To

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Jesus is to accept Sinners, but 
to then call them into something

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else, which is repentance. 
Now how does the Catholic Church

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to develop teachings based on 
this passage? 

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So there's one clear reference 
here to it in paragraph, five 

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eight. 
Eight of the catechism, which is

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in the section about Jesus and 
Israel's faith in God. 

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It says Jesus scandalize the 
Pharisees by eating with tax 

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collectors and sinners as 
familiarly as with themselves 

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against against those among them
who trusted in themselves that 

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they were righteous and despised
others. 

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Jesus, And I have not come to 
call the righteous, but Sinners 

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to repentance. 
He went further by proclaiming 

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before the Pharisees, that sin 
Sinners Universal, those who 

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pretend not to need salvation, a
blind to themselves. 

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So all people need salvation. 
That's clearly the teaching of 

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the church and that's the 
teaching of this paragraph as 

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well. 
And basically, this paragraph is

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a summary of how Jesus calls 
Sinners to repentance and how 

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the Pharisees didn't really like
the fact that he did that. 

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That's the end of today's 
podcast and thanks again for 

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listening. 
Please tune in again tomorrow. 

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That's the end of today's 
podcast and thanks again for 

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00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:51,200
listening. 
Please tune in again tomorrow.