WWJD? We all know that one. What would Jesus do? It was a fairly popular, albeit odd question among Christians for awhile. The one that I've been contemplating lately, however, is a slightly different question. How did Jesus do it? No, no, I'm not asking for a scientific explanation of how He walked on water or fed the 5,000. I'm thinking of more "mundane" things. How did Jesus keep His cool when His disciples were such jerks (you know, like when they argued about who would be at Jesus's right hand)? How did He keep from getting angry when His opponents were so cruel and foolish? The question that has most recently nagged at me, however, is this one. How did He deal with the sinners with whom He spent so much time?
'Tis the season, and it often includes spending time with people you don't normally spend time with. As it happens, I managed to spend an evening with people from my wife's place of employment, including most notably a lesbian couple who shared our table, followed by an afternoon with a heterosexual couple who live together without the benefit of marriage. I was amiable and all, even when the lesbian couple learned that my wife and I met at church and were honest-to-goodness Christians. After all, we are not called to correct the world. We aren't called to change the behavior of those around us to more closely conform to God's standards. We are, in fact, all in the same boat -- sinners in need of a Savior. The only difference is that some of us have found Him and some haven't. On the other hand, we can't come across as agreeing with sin. We can't encourage it or condone it. So there is something else in between -- our more proper position.
Jesus spent a lot of time with sinners. He was known for it. What line did He walk? He surely was never perceived as condoning sin. He illuminated it, not condoned it. And He certainly preached repentance. But if His only conversation with prostitutes and tax collectors was "Repent, sinners!", they wouldn't have spent much time with Him. No, that wasn't how He came across to them at all. He had that ... proper position.
What was that place? What was the balance He struck? How did He do it? You can ask, "What would Jesus do?", but I'm currently more interested in "How did He do it?" That little piece of information might be helpful at the next social gathering I'm sure I'll encounter.
4 comments:
My humble observation is that Jesus discussed the very aspect of their lives that made them discontent, and identified it correctly for them as sin. By pinpointing that they were in fact unhappy with their current situation, he was able to identify the root cause and call them to rectify it through repentance.
I would suppose that part of my (our) problem is that it's hard to recognize "That's sin" as love. I also suspect that I (we) have a problem displaying that as love. We're pretty good at "That's sin", but not so good at doing it or showing it as love.
He surely was never perceived as condoning sin.
Actually he was frequently percieved as condoning sin.
For example:
Mat 12:2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
and
Mar 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
No, you misunderstood, Von. I meant that I'm pretty sure that the sinners with whom He spent time didn't think, "Jesus is perfectly happy with my sin."
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