“The Son of Man came … and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'” (Matt. 11:19). People, especially the religious people, were scandalized by Yeshua because he was a “friend of tax collectors and sinners!” Yet what sickness of heart is this, to despise those who are sick? It is a sorrow of heart to realize that religion often creates an “in-group” mentality that attains its status at the expense of the “outsider,” the “stranger,” the “sinner,” and so on… The prayer of the self-righteous is always: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers – or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11).
The religious leaders of Yeshua’s day were offended because he “welcomed sinners” and enjoyed eating meals with them (Luke 15:2). We can almost hear their disapproving whispers and their dismissive accusations: “How could a good Jew behave like this? Does he not understand the call to personal holiness? Does he not know the Torah of “clean” and “unclean”? If a man is known by the company he keeps, we know enough about Yeshua to know that he’s not truly pious…” And to this very day the self-righteous find offensive the idea that God welcomes the sinful, the needy, the broken, the despised, and the “outsider” into His presence… As Yeshua said, “those who are well have no need of a physician,” and indeed offering them God’s cure will always be regarded as a kind of poison…
We greatly rejoice that God indeed is the friend of sinners; He is the Good Shepherd who seeks and saves the lost. Thank the Lord that he comes not for the “righteous” but for those who are brokenhearted, for those mortally wounded by their own sin… Any so-called theology or religion that repudiates or minimizes God’s love for the sinful, the needy, the broken, is little more than a shrine to human pride and vanity… On the contrary: the heart of the Compassionate One always welcomes a sinner who sincerely turns to Him.
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