Day 260 – Jesus’ Ministry to Sinners

• Luke takes the stage today, with a selection of passages all relating to one wonderful piece of news – that Jesus loved sinners (although not what they did!), spent time with sinners, and died for sinners. Let’s unpack that a little.
• The first passage will have reminded you of some readings we did last week. In fact, Jesus’ words are almost identical. Who is most in need of Jesus?
• The Pharisees thought that by spending time with a “sinner”, like Jesus was doing with Levi, that a person could be unclean by association. Think of it a little like spending too much time with someone with a virus, which you were increasingly likely to catch. Yesterday we read of another situation where Jesus acted by doing something that would be considered “unclean”. What was that?
• Luke 7, our longest passage today, took place in whose house? Don’t be under the misunderstanding that Jesus only spent time with “down and out sinners”. He was also willing to spend time with the Pharisees too; people who equally needed Jesus… even if they perhaps thought they didn’t!
• What did Simon, the Pharisee, think about the woman who came and kissed Jesus’ feet? What might you think the Pharisees have generally thought of sinful women like her? What did Simon presume about Jesus when Jesus didn’t stop the woman from doing what she was doing, in Luke7:39?
• Jesus, like He so often did, answered with a parable. We’ll be reading lots of them over the coming weeks. This one, about a man forgiving debts, is a beautiful allegory, isn’t it? What clear message did Jesus have to give to Simon through the story of the moneylender?
• The woman might have been the greater sinner, but how was her response to Jesus greater than that of the Pharisee, Simon? Imagine you were there. Regardless of gender, who do you relate to more, both in terms of your understanding of your own sin, and in your response to Jesus? Simon, or the woman?
• The final passage is another clear indication of the way that our own pride, self-esteem and assumptions of our standing with God can blind us from our need of a saviour. Who, despite their individual sins, spent his time before God at the temple in the most appropriate way? Who understood their sin? Who went home “justified”?

God hates sin – let’s be clear on that. God never desires us to sin. Jesus doesn’t love us because we sin. But He does love us despite our sin.

That’s the joy to take away today. Don’t end today’s session somehow thinking that the more sinful you are, the more close you get to Jesus. Indeed, Jesus tells more than one person to “go, and sin no more”. But the clear fact is that all of us are sinners, even if our sin falls under that most ugly of phrases, “acceptable sin”. No sin is acceptable, and all sin leads us away from our loving Father.

The sooner we realise that we need Jesus as much as the vilest offender we can think of, the quicker, and more willingly, we will let Jesus rule our lives in thankfulness.