During his public life Jesus not only forGave Sins, but also made plain the effect of this Forgiveness: he reintegrated forgiven Sinners into the Community of the People of God from which Sin had alienated or even excluded them. A remarkable sign of this is the fact that Jesus Receives sinners at his table, a gesture that Expresses in an astonishing way both God's forgiveness and the Return to the bosom of the People of God. 44