So Jesus’ practice of table-fellowship was not only an expression of the good news of God’s kingly rule. It was also an implicit critique of a Pharisaic definition of acceptability, of a Pharisaic practice which classified many fellow Jews as sinners, effectively outside the law and the covenant, like the Gentiles “without God in the world.”

What to many Pharisees was a sinful disregard for covenant ideals was for Jesus an expression of the gospel itself. People they regarded as unacceptable, Jesus proclaimed by word and act to be the very ones whom God invited to his royal banquet.

from Jesus’ Call to Discipleship

—————————
Gender-inclusive version:

So Jesus’ practice of table-fellowship was not only an expression of the good news of God’s kingly rule. It was also an implicit critique of a Pharisaic definition of acceptability, of a Pharisaic practice which classified many fellow Jews as sinners, effectively outside the law and the covenant, like the Gentiles “without God in the world.”

What to many Pharisees was a sinful disregard for covenant ideals was for Jesus an expression of the gospel itself. People they regarded as unacceptable, Jesus proclaimed by word and act to be the very ones whom God invited to God’s royal banquet.

from Jesus’ Call to Discipleship