Jesus, Friend of Sinners
Jesus, Friend of Sinners.
“There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24).
Why does mankind exist? Why did God create the human race? He didn’t need to, because He is utterly and eternally complete within the intimate communion of the Trinity. So He doesn’t really need us as if we could complete Him in any way. One simple way to look at this basic question is this… God created humanity because God is love, He wanted to spread around His love. He is so full of love that He wanted to create people in His image with whom He could enjoy friendship. God created us to have deep fellowship with Him, and He gets great joy out of that fellowship with each of us. He didn’t create us because it would complete Him in some way, He created us knowing that friendship with Him would complete us! The Trinity is so full of love that they couldn’t resist sharing their love with beings made in His image.
“Later, Levi (Matthew) invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.” (Mark 2:15).
Please read the story about Jesus and the sinners in Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17, and Luke 5:27-32.
“Many dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners often gathered around to listen as Jesus taught the people. This raised concerns with the religious leaders and experts of the Law. Indignant, they grumbled and complained, saying, ‘Look at how this man associates with all these great sinners and welcomes them all to come to him!’” (Luke 15:1-2). “Jesus and His disciples went to have a banquet with Levi Matthew. Among the guests in Levi’s house were many tax collectors and notable sinners sharing a meal with Jesus, for there were many kinds of people who followed Him. But when the religious scholars and the Pharisees found out that Jesus was keeping company and dining with public sinners and tax collectors, they were indignant. So they approached Jesus’ disciples and said to them, ‘Why is it that someone like Jesus defiles Himself by eating with sinners and tax collectors?’ But when Jesus overheard their complaint, He said to them, ‘Who goes to the doctor for a cure? Those who are well or those who are sick? I have not come to call the ‘righteous,’ but to call those who are sinners and bring them to repentance. Then He added, ‘Now you should go and study the meaning of the verse: ‘I want you to show mercy, not just offer me a sacrifice.’”(Matthew 9:10-13; Mark 2:15-17).
Public Sinners with Jesus. Jesus is really enjoying Himself. He is the guest of honor at a banquet hosted by His newest disciple, Matthew the tax collector, and He is making Himself at home. Because Levi Matthew made a lucrative career out of collaborating with the hated Romans, to the extent of extorting money from his own people, Matthew is an outcast in Jewish society. He was considered by the religious establishment to be unclean, a public sinner, and was not even allowed to worship in the local synagogues. It makes sense then that the only friends Matthew had were other outcasts, other sinners as judged by the Temple authorities. Add to that the fact that there were many public sinners who followed Jesus from place to place, and there was sure enough quite the unsavory group at Matthew’s house.
Befriending those on the margins. Jesus was happy to be known as the “friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19). He loved eating with the riffraff, to be at table with them. He thought that sharing a meal was a sacred time of fellowship. It was a way to unite with people, to identify with them, to enjoy social interaction and deepen friendships. It was a natural part of Jesus’ personality that He broke bread with those on the margins and made them the center of His attention. After all, He knew what it felt like to be judged and rejected. Jesus found that the outcasts didn’t have any pretensions, they didn’t pretend to be holy or respectable. He found their authentic honesty to be refreshing. They thought that since they were already being judged for their actions, why bother hiding anything? They were used to living with the reality of their bad reputations, so why pretend otherwise? Jesus accepted them and went out of His way to build a sense of trust with the outcasts. He made it a practice to eat with anyone who invited Him to the table, Pharisee or sinner. But His everyday companions tended to be those who were on the outside looking in. “For I have come to invite the outcasts of society and the sinners, not those who think they are already on the right path.” (Matt. 9:13).
Religious Outcasts. In the middle of Matthew’s banquet, a Pharisee came to the door in a huff, expressing his disgust with Jesus. He told Jesus that He was defiling Himself by eating with these reprobates. The Pharisee then confronted the disciples, asking them how they could let their celebrated rabbi associate with such sinful characters. Like all Pharisees, this man was making a blanket judgment. The Pharisees called people sinners for any number of offenses, ranging from public sinners like tax collectors and prostitutes, to those Jews who didn’t ritually wash their hands before eating. Sinners could be those who didn’t tithe properly, or who loved to eat on fasting days. Sinners could be those who didn’t pay Temple tax. In the Pharisees’ mind, sinners could be anything from notorious criminals to impious Jews who don’t worship in the Temple or attend synagogue regularly. Matthew’s group at the table were a wide range of sinners, and the Pharisee rejected the whole lot of them.
The Pharisee didn’t like Jesus’ response, and left Matthew’s house full of indignation. And Jesus returned to the table to visit with His friends. And they talked the night away.
Friendship with God. When we become friends with God, the qualities of true friendship are of course present, since the whole idea of friendship was invented by Him. God is the original source of all the qualities that make a friendship, such as: Trust and Faith in each other; Loyalty and Faithfulness to each other; Transparency and Openness with each other; Mutuality and Reciprocity between each other; Sacrifice and Self-denial for each other; Patience and Intentionality when building a friendship together; Willingness to Obey what the friend has requested to demonstrate the friend-love, the trust, and to serve the friend’s best interests.
As we study this idea and the reality of our friendship with God, let us consider God’s unique friendships with Abraham and Moses in the Hebrew Bible. And let us embrace what Jesus meant when He told His disciples in His last days, “No longer do I call you servants… You are my friends.” (John 15:14-15). And it is stunning, isn’t it, that the pure and righteous Son of God was also “a friend of sinners.” And then to complete the Trinity, we find that the Holy Spirit is a Friend as well, wonderfully described with the name used in John, the “paraclete,” “one who is called to come alongside of.” (John 14:15-26). So there we have it. God the Father had friends in the Hebrew Bible. The Son Jesus developed friendships with practically everyone He met. And the Holy Spirit is now our Friend as we grow in Christ. Do we need any more proof that our Creator has maintained a desire to build friendships with mankind ever since the Garden? Yes, indeed, we do have a friend that sticks closer than a brother, and that friend is God!