FRIEND OF SINNERS

FRIEND OF SINNERS

May 25, 2023

Friend of sinners is one of the titles with which we worship the Lord Jesus Christ today, but it was a derogatory term over 2,000 years ago when the Pharisees coined it as a disparaging and condescending description for a man they were clothing in garbs of gluttony and drunkenness. As far as they were concerned, He couldn’t have been as pure as his outward piety seemed to suggest. A holier-than-thou attitude had characterized their religious order. They could not touch the tax collectors of the day with a pole nor associate with notorious gangsters and mafia dons. If it is true that one’s friends are a reflection of personal character, then Jesus of Nazareth must of necessity be lacking in integrity and moral excellence, they opined.

The tax collectors were derided because Israel was under the colonial rule of the Roman Empire whose governor, Pontius Pilate in conspiracy with Jewish agents extorted the people with the use of underhand tactics. Rome gave Pilate targets and he in turn did the same with the tax collectors who billed the people 3-5 times the tax they ought to pay. The Roman soldiers protected the tax collectors and made them untouchables in spite of their greed and avarice. They were betrayers and oppressors of their own people. The Jews hated them and saw them as enemies of God who encouraged the heathen to trespass on the holy land given to them by God Himself. These people were ostracized from the mainstream of the Jewish community but cared less since they had fellow sinners to company with and party with. They, therefore, built their own community within the larger community.

Left to the Pharisees, only hell fitted the tax collectors but for the Lord Jesus, no man can ‘outsin’ the grace of God. Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. John described beholding His glory as full of grace and truth (John 1:14-15). Passing by the office of one of them, Matthew, He saw beyond his filth at the deep recesses of his heart. No one else could have perceived him as a ready harvest, but through His compassion and love, Jesus of Nazareth saw a soul crying out for freedom but just didn’t know the way out. In spite of initial struggles he must have had leaving the known for the unknown, the secure for the uncertain, Matthew denied the life he had, picked up his cross and followed his new Lord and master. Later that evening he threw a party as he would normally do but this time it was not about an opportunity to spend ill-gotten wealth but rather that he might introduce his friends to the Lord Jesus. Of course, the Lord was eager to make new friends. The ostracized sinners and publicans were welcomed into the presence of a holy rabbi. Never had they ever been loved and accepted by a religious leader. This was the most powerful prophet that ever walked the shores of Galilee and yet He was playing with them and eating with them. Despite His acceptance of them, He did not compromise in any way. His demeanour and comportment made them feel unconditionally loved and accepted but also convicted them of sin.

On another occasion in Luke 19, He met a short tax collector like Matthew called Zacchaeus. The short man had ran ahead of Christ’s procession to climb a sycamore tree to gain a good view of the Lord Jesus which he had lacked due to the mammoth crowd and his short height. Christ saw his spiritual hunger which no Pharisee could have discerned because nothing good could come out of tax collectors. Religious people write off many who they don’t realize are crying for God’s mercy in their souls. For Jesus Christ, He would never judge people like church folks do. He knows there is a sincere yearning in many hearts for freedom and was therefore always intentional about reaching people individually as much as He reached them as crowds. Not only did He meet Zacchaeus, He followed him home and met his family and friends. It was their day and they gathered from all over the city. Never had a prominent spiritual leader associated with them. He was not there to compromise with them, but by playing and eating with them, He made them feel loved and accepted. He successfully disarmed them and made them become true to themselves, hence their quick repentance. Zachaeus led the way in promising to refund extorted money to the owners and to change his ways. Salvation came to his house but Christ was labeled a ‘Friend of sinners’, ‘glutton and wine bibber’. The son of God was held in disdain and derided with such classifications.

It was definitely not the comfort zone of Jesus Christ but He intentionally went out of His comfort zone to win the lost. As followers of our master, it is time to go out of our comfort pulpits and pews to the pubs and palaces alike, buses and board rooms, among friends and family, in the highways and byways to look for ready hearts who do not look like it. Every disciple needs to be intentional about it, so also must every church. We must cancel all excuses and reach out to make friends with the unsaved in order to expose them to our righteousness, peace and joy. We must use acts of compassion and kindness to reach out to our communities and follow up with the preaching of Christ to them. We must be loving and accepting without compromising. Most of us have no unbelieving friends anymore. Few years after giving our lives to Christ, and we are left with only church friends. Like Christ, let us seize the opportunities that young converts present us. They still have lots of unsaved family and friends that we can reach out to and ‘befriend’ for Christ. We need to encourage more Matthew parties and Zacchaeus dinners on a regular basis. May we all end up ‘friends of sinners’ also.

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