Communion With the Christ:: A Friend of Sinners

"The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." Luke: 7:34

Some years ago, while I was taking classes at a pastoral refresher program in California, I was taking with a church Elder named Charlie. Charlie served as a Church Elder in a particular city.

Charlie began to tell me about a situation which had arose in his Church area. The Church had made the collective decision to move the Church to a new location. This new location was within the inner city so that the congregation might be accessible, and able to reach the people who lived in that area and those who roamed the streets and especially the young people.

Some of residents who lived in the area of the inner city had less than up standing lives. Some were dirty, unkept, some were addicted, some bought some sold. Many of them were involved in lawless activities, none-the-less the congregation made the decision to locate to this area.

There is a Problem

Shortly after the transition was made to this particular inner-city neighborhood, some of the street people and those who lived in the neighborhood started attending the church. At first "they" would linger in the rear of the hall and some were coming in just before services began and leaving as soon as they ended.

But after a while some of "them" began to linger and stay a little longer after church services had ended. The Pastor and the Elders were very glad that the residents of the area were coming and hearing about Jesus and all that he is for each and all of us.

Within a short time however, the President of the Local Church Advisory Council and a few of the Council members came to the Pastor and told him that there was a "serious" problem. The Pastor was naturally concerned and asked what the problem was.

The group of Council members told the Pastor that the people from the streets who were finding their way into the services were "bothering" the members of the church and this had offended the "sensibilities" of some of the members of the church.

The Pastor was dumbfounded, these were the very people whom they had come here to minister the love of God to, and reach with the Gospel message about Jesus.

The whole purpose of the church's move to this area was to reach such people, the very ones who live daily without hope and struggle to make sense of the lives they find themselves in.

A "Sterilized" and "Sanitized” Christianity

It is unfortunate that some Christians have such a "sterilized" and "sanitized” Christianity. Some Christians mistakenly believe that it is those who live safe, clean, moral lives, are who will be receptive to the Gospel message, not the down trodden and broken and the addicted.

Jesus entered this world as one of us, the Holy Perfect sinless Son of the living God, yet being such, he did not with draw from the down trodden people of that time (or this time). Jesus was among those who had broken lives and Jesus reached out them with the love, grace and mercy that the Father has for all humanity.

The Sick and Sinners

One day we are told in Luke: 5: that people came from towns in Galilee, Judea and as far as Jerusalem to hear Jesus teach the word of God. We are told that the some of the religious leaders were present as well. We are told in St. Luke's account that "the power of God was upon Jesus to heal the sick".

For the religious leaders of the day, sick persons were to be thought of as being under God's displeasure and excluded from worship, so that Jesus giving the sick access to himself was a point of consternation.

As Jesus taught, men brought a parallelized man on a stretcher to see Jesus. At first, they are unable to gain access to Jesus due to the press of crowd surrounding him, the men are determined to help their friend and improvised a means to get Jesus' attention. We are told in Luke's narrative that the men break thru the roof of the meeting house and lower their friend down to Jesus as he preached.

Jesus, then seeing their action, declares to the man "Friend, your sins are forgiven”. This speaks to us that Jesus' primary concern is for the spiritual healing, which ultimately will lead to the healing of the body. This launches a debate between the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law and Jesus regarding his place to forgive sins.

In Matthew:9 we are told that Jesus offered a place in his ministry to a tax collector named Matthew Levi.

"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him."(9)

The tax collectors who collected taxes for the Provincial Government of Rome were look upon by other Jews as traitors and collaborators with Rome and known for being corrupt, they were shunned and ostracized by the Jewish people and the communities in which they lived, yet Jesus reaches out to just such a one.

Levi Matthew accepts Jesus' invitation and in turn invites Jesus into his own house for a dinner in Jesus' honor. Other dinner guest included some of the less esteemed members of the community as well, those whom the religious leaders deem as "sinners" and they question Jesus' association with "sinners".

"While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (10)

Why Jesus Eats With Sinners

Jesus over heard the Pharisees' query and gave them the answer as to why he eats with sinners.

"On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (12-13)

Simply put, sinners need Jesus, that is, each and all of us need Jesus; and he has come among us. The Pharisees would have disenfranchised and excluded the very ones who need the Lord the most. It was thru the Law and their reading the Law which led them to miss the true intent of the Law. This is why Jesus tells them in his explanation to the Pharisees.

"I desire mercy, not sacrifice."...

Jesus came to extend mercy and grace to each and all, which produces spiritual healing, where the Law would have only produced a "religion" of condemnation and death.

Jesus reached out to those who needed him the most, the spiritually sick and the broken, the lost and excluded. Those people knew that they needed something and the unconditional love of Jesus made them receptive to the message of forgiveness, whereas the Pharisees thought that they did not need help, they saw themselves as spiritually well.

A Lesson

It is not always the persons who are living good upstanding lives in safe neighborhoods, those who have good educations, good jobs, and live "honest moral ethical" lives who are receptive to the Gospel.

Many times some persons who have good jobs, and a home, and a degree of financial stability may think that they are "alright" as they are, and may not see their need for Jesus, they , like the Pharisees, may even be "religious" and attend a church but still never really come to full acceptances of their need for a Savior.

It is often that those who live sinful broken lives, and in a state of constant flux who are the ones that are the most willing to give the Gospel a fair hearing. These people, when they see genuine unconditional love and acceptance, may respond favorably to Jesus, they often know that they need help and many are searching for a way out of the lives they are living; they embrace "mercy" so freely offered by Jesus Christ which results in their forgiveness and they are healed spiritually.

Friend of Sinners

What about us, are we willing to reach out to those who need Jesus, or are we like some of the members of the church my elder friend Charlie served, that when "they" came in "they" were looked upon as a problem? These inner-city people came looking for something, will they find it with each and all of us?

The spiritually sick are all around us as they were two thousand years ago, are we who are Christians, all of us, are we like the Pharisees who would condemn them and disenfranchise them, or are we like Jesus who extends "mercy, not sacrifice" , so that they might experience the forgiveness that Jesus has accomplished for us all and spiritually heals them?

Do we shun the very people who Jesus befriended? What if they begin to attend our churches? Will they find the same unconditional love from us that Jesus offered, or will we see "them" as a problem?

We are called to participate in Jesus' life here and now in presenting the Gospel and love of God to those around us, many are looking for something better than the lives they have.

Let us be like Jesus and become the friends of sinners...

Benediction: May we each and all extend the very love, mercy and grace to any and to all with whom we interact, so that we like Jesus will be a friend of sinners today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.