friend of sinners

I am about to launch into preparation for Sunday evening’s sermon, which is on the term of abuse that was levelled at Jesus: ‘friend of sinners’. As I was thinking about it earlier I had decided what we would use to close the service: the hymn ‘Man of sorrows’ as I was convinced that it included the phrase ‘friend of sinners’.

I have revised my assumption that the hymn contains the phrase ‘Friend of Sinners’ but boy O boy, aren’t the words of that hymn powerful? The phrase may not be there but the message is: loud and clear. I think we may still close with that hymn.

There’s no evidence that Jesus used the phrase ‘Friend of Sinners’ about himself. It was supposed to be an insult hurled at him by religious people who were scandalised that he was spending time with the wrong sort of people. A good religious person would not defiled themselves by eating with those who were disregarded and ignored by society. It was the religious people who defined those people as ‘sinners’ because they did not meet their standards and comply with the complex (often human-designed) religious rules and regulations.

It strikes me that if anyone needed a friend, it was those who were rejected by misguided religious people. If anyone needed to know they were valuable it was those who had been discarded. If anyone needed Jesus to spend time with them it was those that the religious people ignored.

Jesus may not have called himself ‘Friend of Sinners’ but I reckon he loved it when he heard that’s the accusation that was being lobbed at him.

So what about us? Yes he is our friend and we have all fallen short of God’s standards (ie ‘sinners’). But if the religious elite of our day had got it wrong, would they have enough evidence to accuse us of being friends of sinners? Or are we in the elite?

I was looking for a joke about ‘sin’ (no laughing matter) and my search engine came across this joke. It’s not about sin (unless you want to get allegorical) but ‘sin’ is in it.

The California State Department of Fish and Game is advising hikers, hunters, fishermen and golfers to take extra precautions and keep alert for bears while in the Yosemite and Mammoth areas. 

They advise people to wear noise-producing devices such as little bells on their clothing to alert but not startle the bear unexpectedly. They also advise carrying pepper spray in case of an encounter with a bear. 

It is also a good idea to watch for fresh signs of bear activity and know the difference between black bear and grizzly bear droppings. 

Black bear droppings are smaller and contain berries and possibly squirrel fur. Grizzly bear droppings have little bells in them and smell like pepper spray.

Did you find the ‘sin’?

It’s in ‘advising’.