Today’s weather report from heaven: Sunny and bright with an abundance of light, and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture: “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.” Matthew 11:19
Insight: The Pastor of the local church my family and I attend inspired me to write a few days about the various names that the Bible uses to announce who Jesus is to a watching and weary world. Many of them will be very familiar and recognizable to the Christmas story, but one that is likely not is when the Pharisees and Jewish leaders referred to Jesus as a “Friend of Sinners.” What a great name filled with the essential hope we as Christians carry with us. As we are all sinners, if Jesus wasn’t a “friend to sinners,” then we would have no chance to develop a relationship with Jesus. If Jesus was some distant God where we had to work our way into His acceptance, or be good enough where “only the best of the best” in some form of religious hierarchy could be knowledgeable enough to enter into His presence,” then almost all of us would be doomed and disqualified from ever having eternal life. But luckily for us, like many other things the Pharisees had it all wrong, What they meant as a derogatory term, or worse yet a mocking name in referring to Jesus as a “ friend of sinners,” God actually had in mind as the basis for which all of mankind would become eligible to be saved from their sins. Romans 3:22-24 spells it out clearly when it says “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Boom! There it is! We are all sinners and we all fall short, but because Jesus is a “friend of sinners,” we all have an opportunity to be made right before God, not based on works or on being “qualified” but rather because of Jesus’s death on the Cross which paid our sin tab in full! We are qualified only because Jesus Christ is a “friend of sinners.” For this Holiday Season, remember that it is the greatest gift of all, that Jesus has already given us Eternal Life, by simply believing in His name. Because He is the “Friend of Sinners,” I have life. He took my unqualification, my sin and He redeemed it and made me qualified by simply putting my faith in Him. Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So yes indeed, Jesus is a “friend of sinners,” and that is the very best thing that could ever happen to me. Thank you Jesus that you met me right where I was in my sin, and yet You still saw me as worthy for your precious blood to redeem me and call me your friend. No Christmas present can ever compare.
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for being a “friend to sinners.” There is not a more beautiful name I could think of that gives us who call on your name the hope of eternal life. What a personal and intimate God you are. Amen!
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