Click CHAT above to connect with us online. Jesus: Friend of Sinners Pastor Kile Baker - January 14th, 2024 What did people say about Jesus? Jesus: A “Friend of Sinners” Matthew 11:16-19 “To what should I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to other children: We played the flute for you, but you didn’t dance; we sang a lament, but you didn’t mourn! For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” Why would it be controversial to be associated with sinners and tax collectors? Jesus wasn’t called a “helper” of sinners, He was called a “friend” of sinners. Jesus didn’t just help sinners which would have kept Him above them, He associated Himself with them, which put Him next to them. Jesus chose to be with someone who was marginalized rather than be known for something and be notarized. Mark 2:13-17 Jesus went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. Then, passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him. While he was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who were following him. When the scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Luke 7:36-48 Then one of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And a woman in the town who was a sinner found out that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume and stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears. She wiped his feet with her hair, kissing them and anointing them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—she’s a sinner!” Jesus replied to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” He said, “Say it, teacher.” “A creditor had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Since they could not pay it back, he graciously forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one he forgave more.” “You have judged correctly,” he told him. Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she, with her tears, has washed my feet and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet since I came in. You didn’t anoint my head with olive oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” Why friendship matters: Jesus encouraged not just provision but association. He modeled not just compassion, but connection. Why sinners seek Him: Jesus was compelling to sinners because He constantly showed that salvation was available to them. Next Steps: If you’re a Christian, remember, you were once known as a sinner yourself. See people who sin greatly as having the potential to love God deeply. Show compassion to and connect with people who don’t yet know and love God.