Jesus continually shocks us. No wonder the people of his own day crucified him. He wouldn't be too popular in our community. At least not among the better people in town. It is almost as if he preferred to associate with the disreputable, the rejects, the rubble of humanity. "Two men went up to pray," he said on one occasion, "a Pharisee and a tax collector." Now the audience was suppose to hiss and boo when the tax collector's title was given. The IRS is not too popular with us, but at least most of the men and women who work there are honorable. Not so with the tax collectors in Jesus' day. They were worse than scoundrels. They collaborated with the enemy the government of Rome. They worked on commission. The more they could gouge out of their clients, the more they could pocket for them…