“The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’”
Luke 7:34 NLT
A friend of tax collectors and other sinners.
This description of Jesus, this accusation against Jesus, convicts me.
Matthew, one of His closest friends, one of the Twelve, had been a tax collector.
Acts 1 indicates that Matthew was there in the crowd when Jesus had been baptized. I wonder if Matthew had been baptized by John the Baptist as well?
“When they heard this, all the people—even the tax collectors—agreed that God’s way was right, for they had been baptized by John.”
Luke 7:29 NLT
Tax collectors had responded to the message, repented of their sins, believed the good news of the kingdom of God, and were baptized as evidence of their faith commitment.
Reading Luke’s insight here, I believe that Matthew probably was baptized by John. I believe he had repented. I believe, if he had been a crooked tax collector, that his dishonest gain stopped and he possibly even repaid some whom he had stolen from.
When Jesus invited Matthew to “Follow Me,” Matthew didn’t have the same response as Zacchaeus, who promised to repay anyone he had wronged. Perhaps this is because Matthew had already done this in response to John’s message and baptism and was now an honest tax collector, only taking what was owed. And when he wasn’t collecting taxes, he was finding his way to Jesus to listen to his teaching and see his miracles. Perhaps…
Jesus was a friend of tax collectors and other sinners.
A friend of sinners.
A FRIEND of sinners.
A friend of SINNERS.
When I read this description of Jesus, I’m convicted as I ask myself, “Are there any sinners that would call me their friend?”
What does it look like to be a friend of sinners? A genuine friend.
I think in our eagerness to avoid being a friend of the world, we’ve missed out on being a friend of sinners and forfeited our platform to genuinely proclaim Christ.
“You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”
James 4:4 NLT
Friendship with the world, with its values and priorities, the world “system,” is different than being a friend of sinners. That’s the balance Jesus modeled.
This blogpost originally appeared at: Friend of Sinners…A Badge of Honor! – Sonlife and is based upon Sonlife’s study, Knowing Him / A 50 Day Study in the Life of Christ / Day 30