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Christians are called to defend the weak and the unloved as Christ did

A sad truth about the modern church is that there seems to be a large segment of ‘Christians’ who do not want to defend those who for whatever reason have fallen from grace.  Instead of reaching out to those folks and trying to bring them back into the fold it seems like the current trend is to just condemn them and look down on our noses at them.

Today I want to look at three occasions where Jesus met with and healed three people who were in crisis. One was a well-known sinner, one was possessed by evil and as a result was ill and one was accused by the crowd of wrongdoing.  In each case Jesus dealt with the situation, he did not justify the sin; he dealt with the humans involved with compassion and love and when necessary, he corrected those in error.

Our first encounter is found in Luke 7:37-48 – “37 And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38 and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”

This shows how the Pharisee looked down on the woman and how he doubted that Jesus was truly someone who was “holy”.  In those days, those who claimed to obey the laws of Moses looked down on those who they considered sinners.   There was no element of care or love; it was very much a judgmental society.  Jesus, however, was now preaching that everyone should love and care for others no matter what.  That if someone truly repented from his or her sins, and then those sins would be forgiven.  Jesus also knew what the Pharisee was thinking, and it becomes clear when we read starting in verse 40 – “And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.”

I always find it interesting that Jesus always seemed to know what those around him were thinking.  He would then pose a question or make a statement that dealt directly with what that person was wondering.  The story Jesus tells then deals directly with the issue brought up silently by the Pharisee.

“41 “A money lender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 44 Turning toward 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 has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume.”

First Jesus poses a question for Simon and Simon’s answer makes sense.  The person who is forgiven more will be more grateful for that forgiveness because a larger burden has been lifted from their minds.  Jesus then points out how Simon had neglected to provide even the most basic hospitality.  Simon is too busy thinking how awful that woman is and looking down at her and at Jesus for accepting her.

Jesus then goes on to say “ 47 For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

The woman has shown love and by her tears has shown repentance.  In our world today, I have witnessed many preachers act like Simon.  They criticize those who are sinners, they judge them harshly and often they make themselves rich by preaching a gospel of anger and judgment.   It seems like many of us are not really in the business of bringing people closer to Jesus, we are in the business of making ourselves look good on the outside.   When we encounter a person who has fallen, do we reach out to them to pick them up or do we walk around them because we do not to be soiled by their presence?  Jesus never walked around them, He always walked up to them, no matter their situation in life.

In Luke 13:10-16 we find another example of Jesus reaching out to someone who in this case was in physical pain and who had suffered for years.  Not because of anything she had done, even though there were and still are those who think that a person’s sickness is often caused by a sin or sins that either that person or an ancestor has done.  This takes place in a synagogue, a holy place and the problem is not that Jesus healed the woman but that he healed her on the Sabbath. 

In verse 10 we read “And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” 13 And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. “

We see that she has been healed and she recognizes that the hand of God has taken care of her debilitating illness.  Instead of recognizing the power of what happened and giving glory to God like the woman did, the officials get cranky because Jesus had the nerve to heal her on the Sabbath.

We read in verse 14 “ But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? 16 And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

Once again the legalistic person takes over and complains about what Jesus did.  He even goes so far as to say ‘hey you can come on any one of six other days if you want to get healed, so do not get healed on the seventh’.  Jesus blasts that line of reasoning as being out of place.  Today we see almost the same thing.  Churches are closed Monday through Saturday and open only for a couple of hours on Sunday and maybe Wednesday nights.   If a person is in need of salvation, in need of having someone to talk with there’s no official place to turn.  Oh they can call their pastor, or post something on Facebook and people will respond, but the formal organization is just the same now as it was then.  In fact, it is much more rigid now because pastors have office hours and in a lot of cases you must make an appointment ahead of time.

I know of some pastors who will not participate in social media.  Even though their members and society in general has moved, there and they just flat out refuse to participate.  I have heard ministers actually say things that show how much they look down on social media, they are locked into the old way of doing things, and they just do not want to change.  They are as adamant about doing things the way they always have and that is that; there is no compromise.  So as a result, the church is losing a significant portion of the younger population; these are people who are used to a 24-hour a day 7 day a week world and many churches do not seem to be interested in that.

As a result of living in a closed environment, in spending time only with those who think like you and who agree with you on everything there is a tendency to become incredibly judgmental towards others even when you yourself are living a life of sin. There is often a tendency to hold a holier than thou attitude among some Christians and in Matthew 7 verse 1 we find where Jesus warns about that when Jesus says, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.”  Too many misuse that scripture that they have an anything goes attitude and that is NOT what that scripture means, because when you read the rest of the passage you will see that Jesus is warning us not to be hypocrites in our judgments.   To me I think modern Christians have forgotten that because in our haste to judge the actions of others we frequently forget to look in the mirror.  That mentality often leads to situations such as the one we find in  John 8:3-11 when  we read starting in verse 3 “The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4 they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now in the Law