Jesus. The Friend of Sinners

 I once knew a dedicated Pentecostal evangelist. He was a very good, sincere Christian, and he had wonderful ministry gifts. I saw him pray for a little boy who was born deaf. Three months later, the little boy’s hearing was tested, and his disability had vanished.

He was a conservative Pentecostal who avoided every appearance of evil. He would not go to the cinema, even to watch a good movie. Someone might see him and be led into sin by watching a bad movie.

Once he was invited to a family wedding where most people were not strict Christians. People were drinking alcohol. His wife was distressed and outraged that her holy husband was obliged to mix with such worldly goings-on.

I was puzzled. I read in the Bible that Jesus ate and drank with sinners. He did not avoid contact with women, even prostitutes. It made me think about different concepts of Christian holiness.

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 deeds.” Mt 11:19 NIV

One night I was driving when I saw a tall slim young woman at a bus stop. She was wearing a tight-fitting dress, and she did not look respectable.

I felt a strong prompting to stop and offer her a lift. Could that be the leading of the Spirit of God? Surely not!

So I stopped and prayed. I was sure it was the leading of God, so I turned back and offered her a lift. She was heavily drugged and talked to me very openly. In fact, she was really he, on his way to a public park to prostitute himself in a public toilet.

I shared the gospel of Jesus, but he said he could not stop his unpleasant night job, because he owed a lot of money to his drug dealer. He told me where he worked in the daytime, so I went to see him to give him a bible.

I walked with him to the bus stop, and he kissed me on the neck. I was so embarrassed, but I knew that was how Jesus loved people. Jesus exposed himself to shame and scandal to rescue people with broken lives.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Lk 19:10 NIV

Sickness is not from God. Jesus is still the Healer.

 Jesus came to us on this corrupt earth to die as a sacrifice. He took the punishment for our sins upon himself.

Many say we should always passively accept cruelty and bullying, like Jesus on the cross.
Is that true?

Jesus was persecuted precisely because he was not passive and not always submissive.
God had given many laws through Moses, but the rabbis had added many more rules.

but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work … Ex 20:10 NIV

The rabbis came up with many rules that were not in the Bible to control the behaviour of Jews on the Sabbath.

For example, they were allowed to heal the sick, but not on the Sabbath.

God sent his Son to override this oppressive religiosity.

Jesus repeatedly healed suffering people on the Sabbath. He did this openly and deliberately so that everyone could see God's mercy and also to expose the injustice of the rabbinical rule.

Sometimes Jesus healed in the religious service and sometimes on the street. We must follow Jesus. We need to activate God's love and healing power in worship but also everywhere. Jesus has called all Christians in all generations to do this.

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. Jn 14:12 NIV

If we take Jesus at his word, we will clearly understand that this calling is open-ended and not limited to Biblical times.

Jesus was full of mercy, but he was also consistently confrontational.

Jesus always wanted to enforce God's guiding principles: Grace, truth, mercy and justice. If the religious rules got in the way of these guiding principles, Jesus declared the rules invalid.

The rabbis had invented a rule that you were not allowed to heal on the Sabbath. They had also invented a very specific rule that it was not permitted on the Sabbath to make a paste with saliva and earth to treat the eyes of a blind person.

When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes,
and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. Jn 9:6–7 NASB95

Jesus was familiar with the religious rule and openly defied it.

The religious leaders then persecuted the healed man and he was excommunicated.

Jesus never appeased bullying. He stood by the victim, not the cruel elders.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him. Jn 9:35–38 NIV

Unfortunately, this happens again and again in our time. When seriously ill people are healed, it is often dismissed as charismatic witchcraft.

They say that illness comes from God so that we learn to suffer with patience. When people hear about miraculous healings, many say it is demonic.

How strange! In the New Testament, sickness came from the devil and Jesus was the healer.
Today, some preachers say sickness comes from God but healing is demonic. And this is biblical truth?

Healing from God, Sickness from Satan

 Jesus came to us on this corrupt earth to die as a sacrifice. He took the punishment for our sins upon himself.

Many say we should always passively accept cruelty and bullying, like Jesus on the cross.
Is that true?

Jesus was persecuted precisely because he was not passive and not always submissive.
God had given many laws through Moses, but the rabbis had added many more rules.

but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work … Ex 20:10 NIV

The rabbis came up with many rules that were not in the Bible to control the behaviour of Jews on the Sabbath.

For example, they were allowed to heal the sick, but not on the Sabbath.

God sent his Son to override this oppressive religiosity.

Jesus repeatedly healed suffering people on the Sabbath. He did this openly and deliberately so that everyone could see God's mercy and also to expose the injustice of the rabbinical rule.

Sometimes Jesus healed in the religious service and sometimes on the street. We must follow Jesus. We need to activate God's love and healing power in worship but also everywhere. Jesus has called all Christians in all generations to do this.

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. Jn 14:12 NIV

If we take Jesus at his word, we will clearly understand that this calling is open-ended and not limited to Biblical times.

Jesus was full of mercy, but he was also consistently confrontational.

Jesus always wanted to enforce God's guiding principles: Grace, truth, mercy and justice. If the religious rules got in the way of these guiding principles, Jesus declared the rules invalid.

The rabbis had invented a rule that you were not allowed to heal on the Sabbath. They had also invented a very specific rule that it was not permitted on the Sabbath to make a paste with saliva and earth to treat the eyes of a blind person.

When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes,
and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. Jn 9:6–7 NASB95

Jesus was familiar with the religious rule and openly defied it.

The religious leaders then persecuted the healed man and he was excommunicated.

Jesus never appeased bullying. He stood by the victim, not the cruel elders.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him. Jn 9:35–38 NIV

Unfortunately, this happens again and again in our time. When seriously ill people are healed, it is often dismissed as charismatic witchcraft.

They say that illness comes from God so that we learn to suffer with patience. When people hear about miraculous healings, many say it is demonic.

How strange! In the New Testament, sickness came from the devil and Jesus was the healer.
Today, some preachers say sickness comes from God but healing is demonic. And this is biblical truth?