The accounts of the Lord’s behavior in the gospels tell us repeatedly that He would eat with outcasts. This included Gentiles outside the covenant of Israel, and we sometimes might assume that this was the point. But while Jesus did have “other sheep” that were not from the Jewish fold (John 10:16), He also would share table fellowship with outcasts within Israel. He summoned Gentiles who didn’t know, but He also invited Jews, who knew better than what they were doing.
Take the example of Zacchaeus. Jesus calls him a son of Abraham, meaning that he was Jewish. At the same time, he was engaged in a practice that gouged his countrymen—and he knew that he owed restitution, however legal his practices might have been. At the same time, Jesus invited Himself to sit down with Zacchaeus in order to break bread together.
Every week I say, “Come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.” This invitation is extended to every creature. It is an evangelistic invitation to those who are not yet baptized—come to the bread and wine through the water. But it is also an invitation to those who are baptized, and who have openly backslidden into some spiritual condition that is not honoring to God. Come, and welcome. Repent your sins, and just come. But the invitation is also extended to any who are backslidden, but no one else really knows about it. Externally you are a faithful Christian, but internally, your heart is far away from Him. Repent, turn away, confess . . . and hear this. Come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.