Sent to the Lost and Sinners

This morning my heart is drawn back to a few verses from Matthew's Gospel that have been pivotal in my understanding of the role of the church.  HEre are the verses - Matthew 9:11-13 NIV:

[11] "When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

[12] On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. [13] But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

These verses are so helpful to me in helping me understand the difference between legalism and the love and motivation of the Father, as represented by Jesus.   Jesus, in His actions and His words was representing the Father (See Hebrews 1:3, John 14:9-11).  His whole life is representing the Father's heart, doing what the Father tells Him and saying what He hears the Father saying.  It was not accidental, or good manners that He was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, this was the Father's will and heart.  It can be seen in no other light.

The Pharisees were taking a legalistic approach, applying the law without understanding the character and heart of God.  They were more concerned with their own acts of righteousness, as they saw them, then they were the lost and wayward fellow Jews.

In His reply to the Pharisees, Jesus was quoting from the prophet Hosea, which they would have known well.  It is a book where God calls Israel back, over and over again, despite their unfaithfulness.  He has Hosea marry a Prostitute, and then go redeem her again even after she leaves him and commits adultery.  It was a prophetic image of God's love for an unfaithful and sinful people.  Here are some verses from the last chapter, where God is describing His love and desire for Israel - Hosea 14:1-7 NIV:

[1] Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall!

[2] Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. [3] Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.”

[4] “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. [5] I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; [6] his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. [7] People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine---Israel's fame will be like the wine of Lebanon."

His desire was to be merciful to them, to love them, to provide for them.  He desired that they would rekindle their relationship with Him, their God, and in that place experience His blessing and compassion and mercy.  Almost the whole of the Old Testament is this same theme, God calling to the Jews to return to Him, because of His love and desire to bless them.  God wanted to lead them and guide them and protect them, but they wanted a king like other nations (See 1 Sam 6:6-8). God's desire was for them to walk as a people in relationship with Him, and He constantly sent His prophets to call them back.  Jesus, in going to the sinners and tax-collectors is continuing that ministry and call.  The Father doesn't want anyone to be lost (See the parable of the lost sheep - Luke 15:4-6) and sent Jesus to them.  Jesus actually says this was His call in Matthew 15:24 NIV: "He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

The Pharisees in their legalism, would have rejected the sinners and tax-collectors, refusing to talk to them or have fellowship with them for fear of making themselves unclean.  Their thought was that God only wanted fellowship with the righteous, and this is where they were completely wrong.  They were afraid that their speaking or interacting with the sinners would cause their righteousness to be stained.  They didn't understand that God's heart was to lift the sinners out of their sin, chains and bondage, and that He was able to do that without becoming stained or marred.

Our call is to follow Jesus' example.  Our call is to the sick, to the lost, to the prisoners.  Our righteousness isn't affected when we reach out to those who are not, because opur righteousness isn't dependent on our actions but rather on Jesus!  Our call is to bring light into the darkness.  Darkness cannot overwhelm the light (See John 1:4-5).  We are called to represent Jesus, even as He represented the Father.  His ministry is our ministry.  His call is our call!  His words should be our words!  His actions should be our actions.  In going to the lost, to the sinners, to the prisoners and having fellowship with them, being in relationship with them, the light that is within us, shines into their lives.

So today, I am encouraged to love and to extend mercy, not to focus on acts that maintain my own righteousness (sacrifice).  I am encouraged to let the Light of Christ, that burns in me, shine to those who have none!  I am encouraged to go to the sick, to the lost, to the prisoners of the spirit of this age and show them God's heart for them!

Amen!