by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
Jesus broke the mold of how a rabbi should act. At least, He didn’t act in a way that the religious, holy-toity leaders in His day thought He should. It was bad enough to have accepted a (gasp<\/em>) tax collector as a follower after He was seen associating with various other “sinners!” Seeing Jesus eat with this hated segment of society just made the Jewish leaders hate Him more, which prompted them to ask His disciples, “Why is your teacher eating with these people?”<\/p>\nJesus overheard the question, and His simple reply cut to the heart of His mission. He was there for people who needed what he had. He wasn’t hanging out with sinners to simply have a good time, He was offering them change, real change, from a life of estrangement from God. “But when He heard it, He said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners’<\/em>” (Matthew 9:12-13).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Zeke Flores Jesus broke the mold of how a rabbi should act. At least, He didn’t act in a way that the religious, holy-toity leaders in His day thought He should. It was bad enough to have accepted a (gasp) tax collector as a follower after He was seen associating with various other “sinners!”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[952],"class_list":["post-83844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-compassion"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40562,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-ate-with-publicans-and-sinners\/","url_meta":{"origin":83844,"position":0},"title":"Jesus Ate with Publicans and Sinners","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton There is no doubt that Jesus was among publicans and sinners and ate with them. What was He doing? Was he gambling with them? Was He smoking with them? Drinking intoxicating drinks with them? Cursing and laughing at dirty jokes? Was He being complicit with them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48541,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-the-adulterers-and-homosexuals-at-corinth-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":83844,"position":1},"title":"Why Did the Adulterers and Homosexuals at Corinth Change?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Paul mentions a list of sins which included thieves, drunkards, adulterers, and homosexuals (I Corinthians 6:8-10) and said, \"such were some of you\". They were washed from such sins, justified, and sanctified. What was the motivation that moved them to change? They did not argue that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10041,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-your-sin-is-also-a-crime-should-you-turn-yourself-in-when-you-repent\/","url_meta":{"origin":83844,"position":2},"title":"If your sin is also a crime, should you turn yourself in when you repent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In the example of the murderer, would God expect him to turn himself into the authorities if his crime was not known or found out? Answer: One aspect of repenting of sin is demonstrating a complete change in life. \"For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41995,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-jesus-bake-a-cake-for-a-homosexual-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":83844,"position":3},"title":"Would Jesus Bake a Cake for a Homosexual Marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jonathan Perz Yes. Jesus ate with sinners (Luke 5:30). Jesus washed sinners' feet (John 13:1-20). Jesus let His feet be anointed by a prostitute (Luke 7:36-50). Jesus chose twelve sinners to be His apostles, one of whom would betray Him (Matthew 10:2-4). Jesus even died for sinners (Romans 5:8).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32331,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-sinners-be-called-beloved\/","url_meta":{"origin":83844,"position":4},"title":"Should sinners be called “beloved?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Brother Jeffrey, I was considering a post I read on Facebook. It said Kamala Harris is beloved and Joe Biden was worth dying for. This made me think about the idea that Jesus called Pharisees a brood of vipers. There is something troubling to me about calling evil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16366,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-respond-to-the-prayers-of-the-alien-sinner\/","url_meta":{"origin":83844,"position":5},"title":"Does God respond to the prayers of the alien sinner?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In my study of God's Word, I've come to the conclusion that God does not respond to the prayers of an \"alien sinner\" when asking for God's blessings on himself.\u00a0 However, what are your thoughts on whether God responds to an \"alien sinners\" prayers when praying for someone else?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHere’s the thing: We shouldn’t judge a book by its cover or write off a sinner because they sin. They need Jesus just as much as you do. Approach them and try to help them see. After all, someone helped you.\n