Jesus And Sinners

One of the questions we were discussing last night was how Jesus dealt with sinners. It is surprising how little He actually addressed people's sins. I could only find instances where He addressed 4 people personally about their sins, the young man whom was carried to Him by his friends, the women who wept over His feet (Luke 7), the man healed at the pool of Siloam (John 5) and the adulterous woman (John 8).

He did talk about sin, and sinners and such on occasion, but it was not His main message. In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, He really only spoke of sin in about 5 situations (in each Gospel) and one of them was in teaching us to pray, commonly known as the Lord's Prayer. The Gospel of Luke has several more instances where the topic of sin was raised but it was certainly not the main topic, and in the Gospel of John most of the discussion around sin had to do with whether Jesus was a sinner for breaking the Sabbath, or His correcting the common understanding of sin.

My point is not that we shouldn't be concerned about sin, but more that we should focus on what Jesus focused on. We should look at our message as the Church and see if it matches the message of Jesus. He focused on the reality of the Kingdom of God, demonstrated its realities as they flowed out of the Father's heart and called people into relationship. He destroyed the works of satan and advanced the Kingdom of God everywhere He went. He set people free, healed people, worked miracles and signs and wonders demonstrating the power of God present to save. His commandment was that we should love as He loved, to forgive, and to extend mercy.

So let us endeavor to align ourselves in thought, heart and action wth those things that the Lord was most concerned with as demonstrated in the Gospels. Let us be lights to this darkening world, and let us remember He was not called to go the righteous, but to sinners (Mark 2:17) and so are we. He came into the world not to condemn the sinners, but to save them (John 3:17 paraphrase).