Why Jesus Calls Us to Show Mercy to Unbelievers

Why Jesus Calls Us to Show Mercy to Unbelievers

By Pastor Autry Watkins | Transformation Church | August 26, 2026

We live in a culture of escalating contempt. Our social media feeds overflow with righteous indignation, our dinner conversations bristle with judgments about 'those people,' and our churches can become fortresses of self-righteousness rather than hospitals for sinners. But here's the uncomfortable truth: the same Pharisees who criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners are alive and well—and sometimes they wear our faces. The question that confronts us from is piercing: Do we actually want unbelievers to encounter Jesus, or do we prefer they stay at a safe distance from our sanitized Christian bubbles? Jesus didn't just tolerate sinners; He actively pursued them, reclined at table with them, and called religious people to learn what mercy truly means.

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The Scandal of Jesus's Table Fellowship

When Jesus called Matthew the tax collector and then attended a dinner party filled with 'tax collectors and sinners,' He wasn't making a small cultural misstep. He was detonating a theological bomb in the heart of religious respectability. Tax collectors in first-century Judaism weren't just morally questionable—they were traitors who collaborated with Rome's oppressive regime, extorting their own people for profit. They were ceremonially unclean, socially ostracized, and spiritually bankrupt in the eyes of the religious establishment. Yet Jesus didn't maintain a safe distance. He didn't stage a protest outside Matthew's house. He sat down, broke bread, and shared fellowship with people whose very presence would have made a Pharisee recoil. This wasn't Jesus being careless about holiness or indifferent to sin. This was the incarnate God demonstrating that His mission was fundamentally one of rescue, not isolation. The Pharisees' question drips with contempt: 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' Notice they didn't ask Jesus directly—they went to His disciples, as if Jesus's behavior was too scandalous to address face-to-face. Their question reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of God's heart. They saw sinners as contaminants to avoid. Jesus saw them as patients who needed a physician. One perspective builds walls; the other builds bridges. One hoards grace; the other spends it lavishly on the undeserving. This is where we must examine our own hearts. Do we view unbelievers—the colleague who mocks Christianity, the family member living in open rebellion against God, the neighbor whose lifestyle offends our sensibilities—as people Jesus died to save, or as threats to our spiritual comfort?

Mercy Over Sacrifice: God's Radical Priority

Jesus's response to the Pharisees cuts to the theological core: He tells them to go and learn what it means that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. This wasn't a novel concept—it came straight from the prophet Hosea. But the Pharisees had built an entire religious system on external observance while missing the heart of God entirely. They mastered the mechanics of religion but failed at mercy. Here's what makes this so devastating: the Pharisees were theologically educated, biblically literate, and scrupulously obedient to their religious traditions. They fasted twice a week, tithed meticulously, and memorized Scripture. Yet Jesus essentially tells them, 'You've missed the point entirely. Go back to school and learn what God actually cares about.' Their sacrifices—their religious performances—meant nothing without mercy toward those who needed it most. Mercy, in biblical terms, isn't soft sentimentality or affirming sin. It's the covenant love of God that pursues rebels, provides for the undeserving, and patiently calls sinners to repentance. It's seeing people as God sees them: created in His image, desperately broken by sin, and in need of a Savior they cannot provide for themselves. Mercy doesn't minimize sin; it maximizes grace. This is the gospel scandal that should arrest us: God showed us mercy when we were His enemies. Before we cleaned up our act, before we got our theology straight, before we proved ourselves worthy—Christ died for the ungodly. The cross is God's ultimate statement that mercy triumphs over judgment. If we've truly tasted that mercy, how can we withhold it from others? If we've been forgiven an unpayable debt, how dare we clutch our pearls when Jesus extends the same grace to someone we deem less deserving?

The Physician Who Came for the Sick

Jesus's self-description is medically precise and theologically profound: 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.' He didn't come for people who think they have their lives together. He came for those who know they're dying. The great irony is that the Pharisees were just as spiritually sick as the tax collectors—they just couldn't see it. Self-righteousness is a terminal condition that blinds patients to their need for treatment. This is why Jesus says, 'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.' He's not saying the Pharisees were actually righteous—He's exposing their delusion. They saw themselves as spiritually healthy, so they had no use for a Savior. The tax collectors and sinners, on the other hand, knew exactly what they were. Their brokenness was visible. Their need was obvious. And that very awareness made them more receptive to Jesus than the religious elite who trusted in their own righteousness. The church today faces the same temptation the Pharisees did: to become a club for the (seemingly) healthy rather than a hospital for the sick. We sanitize our language, hide our struggles, and present a polished version of Christianity that makes grace feel earned rather than freely given. We forget that we are all chronic patients in ongoing treatment, not cured graduates who've moved beyond our need for the Great Physician. What would it look like if our churches became known as places where broken people find healing rather than judgment? Where the addict, the divorcee, the doubter, and the prodigal know they'll find mercy instead of contempt? This doesn't mean we affirm sin or compromise holiness. It means we embody the same posture Jesus had: moving toward sinners with redemptive love, knowing that only the kindness of God leads to repentance.

"The Pharisees saw sinners as contaminants to avoid. Jesus saw them as patients who needed a physician. One perspective builds walls; the other builds bridges." — Pastor Autry Watkins

"Self-righteousness is a terminal condition that blinds patients to their need for treatment." — Pastor Autry Watkins

Application

This teaching demands concrete action in our daily lives. First, identify the 'tax collectors and sinners' in your world—the people you've written off as too far gone or too different to reach. Ask God to give you His heart for them. Second, examine how you speak about unbelievers. Does your language reflect contempt or compassion? Do you gossip about their failures or pray for their salvation? Here are questions for honest self-examination: Am I more concerned with appearing righteous than showing mercy? Do I avoid certain people because their sin makes me uncomfortable—or because I fear what others will think? When I encounter someone far from God, is my first instinct judgment or prayer? Do I truly believe the gospel is powerful enough to transform the lives I've deemed hopeless? Am I willing to be misunderstood—even criticized by other Christians—for the sake of reaching the lost? Remember: mercy isn't something we muster through willpower. It flows from hearts that have been transformed by receiving mercy ourselves. Return to the cross daily. Let the weight of your own forgiveness fuel compassion for others. And trust that the same Christ who pursued you in your rebellion is still in the business of seeking and saving the lost.

The call to show mercy to unbelievers isn't optional for followers of Jesus—it's central to our mission. We serve a Savior who left heaven's glory to eat with sinners, who endured the contempt of the religious to extend grace to the lost. As we've received mercy, so we must give it. Not to compromise truth, but to reflect the heart of the God who desires all people to come to repentance. May our churches become known not for our judgment, but for our Jesus-like mercy toward those who need Him most.

For Further Reflection

Who are the 'tax collectors and sinners' in your life that you've been avoiding or judging rather than viewing as people Jesus died to save?

In what ways might you be more like the Pharisees than you'd like to admit—prioritizing religious performance over genuine mercy toward broken people?

How does understanding that you were once God's enemy whom He pursued with mercy change the way you view unbelievers?

What specific, practical step can you take this week to show Christ-like mercy to someone far from God?

How can your church or small group become more like a hospital for sinners and less like a club for the seemingly righteous?