SABBATH
THOUGHTS FOR YOUR WEEK
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Jesus, friend of the IRS (tax-collectors) and irreligious
(“sinners”), actually ate with them and fellowshipped with them.
Note that after choosing Matthew, Jesus went to a house (probably
Matthew’s) where he dined with tax-collectors (publicans) and “sinners.”
(See Matthew 9:10). He was
indeed a friend to them (Matt. 11:19).
Imagine what it meant to the disenfranchised “sinners” who could not
be a part of the Pharisees, the Essenes or the Sadducees?
Imagine dining with Jesus Christ, sharing food and the sustenance of life
itself with the Savior? In
this action, Jesus was expressing the grace of God to them.
They could see that God was indeed not their enemy or someone who was
trying to get the goods on them to condemn them.
Why did Jesus do it? The
Pharisees asked this question. Jesus
answered directly. It was because
healthy people don’t need a physician but the sick do.
Jesus even allowed these “sinners” to touch Him – as did the woman
who washed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
The Pharisee with whom He was having dinner wondered whether Jesus was
really a prophet because the Pharisee assumed Jesus couldn’t discern what kind
of woman this was who was washing His feet (Luke 7:36-50).
The New Testament shows that Jesus spent a disproportionate amount of
time with the sinners, losers, outcasts, the lame, the last, the least and the
lost of society. To eat with them
was very significant. It meant the
sharing of food and thus the sharing of life.
Surely Jesus’ guests could discern that He was a very moral and
spiritual man as a man named Zacchaeus found out (Luke 19).
When Jesus came to his house and ate with him he had a complete
repentance and change of heart and behavior.
Holy, sinless, righteous and yet, Jesus could relate to sinners.
In doing so Jesus was illustrating God’s grace even to us.
Even when we were dead in our sins, God made us alive in Christ by His
grace (Eph. 2:1-5). Christ died for us while we were God’s enemies, powerless,
ungodly and sinners (Rom. 5:6,8,10).
Jesus illustrated God’s grace by granting parents of little children
and even infants to bring their children for a blessing.
He used the occasion to explain to His disciples that they must become
like little children in order to enter the kingdom of God.
Children in that day were not regarded as we regard children today.
They were not considered as having any status in society.
They were to be seen and not heard.
When Jesus said we must become like little children, He was saying we
must regard ourselves as having no status.
His acceptance of the little children by holding them individually in His
arms shows His grace to those whom society has assigned to a lower status.
Grace has been defined as “unmerited pardon.”
This is a minor part of the N.T. teaching of grace!
Grace is God’s gift that contains all His other gifts to us.
After all, if God did not spare His Son for us, how will He spare
anything else that we need? (See Rom. 8:32). God’s grace is manifested in the
person of Jesus Christ. He, as a
human being, grew in grace (favor) with God and humans.
Grace has many meanings in the Greek language and even in the N.T. uses.
It can mean: gift, favor, thanks, gracefulness, loveliness, charm (as
applied to speech), God’s gifts to the church and ministry.
Grace certainly includes mercy but goes beyond mercy to envelope the
person who receives it. Grace is dynamic and active so that it has an effect and can
bring about changes in the recipient. More
on Grace in a future Sabbath Thoughtl.
David L. Antion for Guardian Ministries