The Friend of Broken People

Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. (Luke 11:37 NASB)

Jesus and the Pharisees sparred constantly. The Pharisees had reduced faith to a series of rules so stringent no one could follow them. They had reduced repentance to a monetary exchange of payoffs and reduced forgiveness to a marketplace transaction. Experts in Mosaic law, they were, for the most part, steadily leading their fellow Jews away from a relationship with God. 

If any group was an outright enemy of Christ, it was the Pharisees. They were the ones that would eventually push for His arrest, His trial, and His crucifixion. At this point in Jesus' ministry, the conflict between Him and the Pharisees was beginning to escalate. Then, a surprising thing happened. 

Jesus had been speaking to a crowd about prayer, casting out demons, and the Sign of Jonah. A Pharisee was among the people gathered that day. After Jesus finished speaking, the Pharisee approached Him and invited Him to eat lunch. In my mind's eye, I can see Jesus smile, nod His head, and tell the man, "Sure, I'd be glad to have lunch with you." That may not be how it happened, but Jesus agreed to the man's invitation.

He did not call the Pharisee names. He did not condemn the Pharisee for his sin. He did not publicly shame the Pharisee. He did not attempt to abolish all Pharisees. 

What Jesus did instead was to love the Pharisee. He spent time with the Pharisee. He honored the Pharisee by His presence. He was kind to the Pharisee, but His kindness did not extend to agreeing with his sin. When the Pharisees and his friends questioned Jesus, He spoke truth, but He spoke it with love. It is important to note that Jesus spoke the hard truth after He had spent time with the Pharisee and shared a meal together. (The Pharisees were angered by the truth but that's a topic for a different day.)

This particular Pharisee may not have embraced Christ's teachings and may not have become a believer, but some of the Pharisees did. They watched Jesus love everyone, listened to His truth, and followed Him. 

When our beliefs differ from those of others around us, we must follow the example of Christ. He loved everyone, especially sinners. His greatest condemnation was not for lost people but for people who claimed to be "God's people" yet were far from Him.

Jesus' life was filled with broken people looking for a way to be made whole, and mine  should be, too. If my life is not inhabited by broken people who see something whole in me, I need to ask myself why not. 

How do we respond to people who disagree with us? To people considered "sinners" by the religious establishment? With whom do we spend our time?

If we are to be like Jesus, we need to love the lost and broken as much as He does. It's the best way to bring them to the One who can make them whole. 

We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. (1 John 4:19-21 NASB)

Radical obedience

But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:10-11 NIV)

Our detour through Jonah is just about at an end, but it would be a shame to miss the finale. 

As you know, Jonah was a runaway prodigal because God had instructed him to go to Nineveh and he refused. Jonah was prejudiced against Israel's enemy, the Assyrians, and he hated the people of Nineveh. Ultimately, God put Jonah in a tight spot (the belly of a big fish) and Jonah relented. He agreed to obey God, but with an "I don't have to like it" attitude. Jonah did not have a burning desire for the repentance and transformation of Nineveh. He didn't care about the people. He was simply trying to get out of trouble with God by his obedience. It is surprising to me, but God blessed the grudging obedience.

After everyone had repented and God had relented, Jonah pouted and was angry with God. I often wonder why God would have used Jonah at all, and then I remember that He chooses to use me. Jonah's fruit is a reminder that God can use anyone, including you and me. 

While he was pouting, Jonah went outside the city, built a little shelter, and sat in the shade. God made a vine grow up over Jonah to give him better shade. Jonah was happy about the vine but, when God allowed a worm to chew the plant so that it withered, Jonah was angry. God blessed Jonah with a hot sun and a blistering wind. Jonah was irate.

God responded with words that cut to the heart. "You care so much about the plant I created. Shouldn't I care about the people I created? (Leanna Paraphrase) 

Indeed. 

Aren't we just like Jonah? I sometimes care more about the plants and "stuff" in my life than I do the people God has entrusted to me. Surely not, you may say, but a quick look at my daily life will make that clear. I hate this, but it's true. I have a little garden. Every day I check my plants, look for bugs, water them, mulch them, trim away diseased leaves. Every day my plants receive tender, consistent care and they are thriving under my care.

There are lots of people in my life, but very few of them receive consistent, tender attention on a daily basis. I care a great deal about the plants in my garden, but do I attend to the people in my life with that same attention? 

Do I care about people the way God cares about people? Lost people? I have to admit that I do not. I am burdened for the people in my life with fractured, broken lives. I am burdened for the people of the world who are trapped in lifestyles of violence, terror, abuse, hopelessness. It's not that I don't care at all, but that I don't care like God cares. 

In an awful, shameful way, I don't want to care like God cares. I don't want to care because it will require change on my part. Perhaps that's what keeps you from God-care, too. Caring like God cares might require me to get outside my comfort zone, go somewhere unpleasant to minister in the name of Jesus, deny myself something in order to provide for others. I might have to do more, face my fears, take a risk.

I hesitate. But Jonah. Jonah didn't want to go, but he did, and God changed the history of 120,000 people who didn't know their right from their left. He used Jonah's radical, grudging obedience to bless His own people fifty years later. 

What would God do with my sacrifice if I opted for radical obedience? How would He change the world if I were willing to go when He says go, speak when He says speak, care when He says care, love when He says love? How would God change the world if you and I were willing to follow Him with radical obedience? 

If we are to deny ourselves daily, take up our cross, and follow Him, and we are, then perhaps it is past time for the kind of obedience that says, "Sure, God. Take me to the meanest, toughest, most lost people on earth and love them through me." It's not the people who don't know God who are making our world such a dark place. It's the ones of us who know God but fail to shine our light in the darkness. We are the ones who have allowed the darkness to persist. 

Today, let's offer ourselves to God, willing to follow wherever He leads, love whomever He loves, give whatever He requires. Be the light in the darkness and let God shine through you.