Cwic Clips- Sitting With Sinners

Jesus gave us the a great example of charity, disregarding reputation and social acceptance by sitting and eating with 'sinners'.

and then we have an example one of my

favorite examples in scripture where

Jesus then it says and it came in verse

10 and it came to pass as Jesus sat at

meat in the house behold many publicans

as the tax collectors who were looked at

very poorly because they kind of worked

the system and took a lot for themselves

maybe and they were turncoats so to

speak because these were usually Jews

that worked for the Romans and the Jews

weren't really happy about that and so a

lot of the publicans and sinners who

must have worked together came and sat

down with him and his disciples and so

then the Pharisees there in Nazareth or

see this and they said unto his

disciples why eateth your master with

publicans and sinners and Jesus hears

this and he says unto them they that be

whole need not a physician but they that

are sick but go ye and learn what that

meaneth I will have mercy and not

sacrifice for I am NOT come to call the

righteous but sinners to repentance this

is a such a great lesson here and it's

one that really needs to be parsed out

because there's a lot of different

examples and roles that we play where we

look at okay well where do I step and

where don't I step for example we have

other scriptural pieces of advice right

that say to avoid even the appearance of

sin and so a lot of us might take that

to think well I can't let anybody even

think anything and so therefore you know

that I might be doing something bad and

so I'm going to stay away from anyone

who does do anything bad not to mention

the fact that if some people are of a

poor influence then is it wise to be

around them or how much to be around

them and then as a parent especially

where you feel the responsibility for

your children

how much do you allow your child to sit

with the publicans and the sinners

because they're children and so watching

over them you may feel like okay I don't

want them anywhere near them at the same

time how do you help them understand

this principle that's a difficult line

to walk I think because you don't want

there to be a self-righteous judgment

from your children or certainly from

yourself about trying to be staying on

the straight and narrow path and

avoiding what is wrong and who is wrong

perhaps at the same time you don't want

to teach them that there are good people

and bad people and you need to be with

good people and not with the bad people

completely right you there needs to be

some kind of a nurturing there and a

lesson that would be given that would

say look these are children of God

and I don't want you maybe as children I

don't want you hanging around them but I

want you if necessary to be a friend to

them or to be a positive influence where

you can be with them and as adults

certainly we might want to stay away

from the interpretation of staying away

from anything that appears like sin

because what that might really mean is

from what we perceive as doing something

that is wrong not from what we're

worried about everybody else around us

doing what is wrong or thinking what

we're doing wrong because certainly

that's where Jesus is here he is in the

middle of the sinners and the publicans

people that the Pharisees and others who

are do gooders and are trying a lot of

them probably trying to be good not all

of them they're a little bit

confused but they're very confused about

why he is sitting with them if he's out

preaching and starting this movement and

teaching this higher law why would he be

with these sinners and he says I am here

to heal them I'm not here to call the

righteous

to repentance I'm here to call the

sinners to repentance in a sense I think

that we have to some degree the same

responsibility not necessarily they're

all preaching repentance to everybody

but how can we be a positive influence

and more importantly how can we show

that we have love for our fellow man

regardless of their way of life or

mistakes that we might perceive to be

from them that might be might not show

good on us right if we happen to mingle

with them a little bit and then how

do we divide that and make sure that

we're not doing something where we're

becoming influenced again I think that's

a very fine line to walk but Matthew

here brings this up as an important

principle and to me I think it's crucial

is our how to how are we willing to

reach out to those that might need the

most help and that might that might need

the most spiritual help without being

judgmental and Jesus seems to do a great

job of that

and he says here again in verse 13 I

will have mercy

speaking of sitting with the sinners and

the publicans I will have mercy and not

sacrifice so these are the two laws

right these are the two laws the law of

sacrifice is a lower law that he will

eventually fulfill that is the lower law

and the higher law is one of mercy the

mercy that would be compassion and the

love that we would have for somebody

else where we're actually reaching out

and pulling them up where we're willing

to bear a burden of responsibility and

empathy for those around us