Skip to main content

Friend of Tax Collectors and "Sinners."


The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.” ’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.” (Matthew 11:19)
 
          Sometimes, it seems to me that God just can't win. If He sent prophets, the Jews called them liars and killed them. He sent John the Baptist as the last prophet. He separated himself from the people and pronounced fire and brimstone on those who didn't believe and they declared he was possessed by a demon. Jesus came along preaching that the kingdom of God was among the people and because He didn't separate Himself from people, He was rejected as a "friend of tax collectors and sinners." The implication was that because He associated with these sinners, He must be a sinner or approve of the sin. 
          We hear some of this same idea today. People like to remind us that He was "a friend to tax collectors and 'sinners.'" What they want us to do as a result of this claim is to say that the sin is OK, but Jesus never told sinners that their sin was acceptable. I heard someone wise say that Jesus never met an adulteress. My initial thought was "what about the woman caught in the act" (John 8)[1]? After thinking about it for a while, I reached the conclusion that the person who said this was right. Jesus never met an adulteress. He met a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. There's a difference. The former is a label. It is an abstract. The latter is a person. It is concrete. In the same way, Jesus was never friends with a tax collector (even though one of His disciples was one before he became a disciple) or a glutton. He was friends with people but He never pretended that their sin was OK.
       In the same way, we need to love and befriend people no matter what their preferred sins or besetting weaknesses are, but we should never, ever treat their sin as acceptable. And, we need to love and befriend ourselves no matter what our preferred sins or besetting weaknesses are, but we should never, ever treat our sin as acceptable or negligible.

[1] According to my study notes, the best manuscripts don't include this story. It would not be generally wise to use this passage to establish and defend any doctrines, but it helps me explain the idea.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more