A GOD-PUNCH!
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| Take a listen to the song “Jesus Friend of Sinners” |
Have you ever felt “God-punched”? I have and He packs quite a wallop when needed! This is how one listener described the song “Jesus Friend of Sinners” on youtube.
A few weeks ago, a sweet couple at church (Candice & Eric) sang this song by Casting Crowns. I couldn’t hardly breathe because of the heavy realization that so often we become the stumbling blocks rather than the stepping stones to Jesus. And remember what Jesus Himself said about stumbling blocks – “Woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!” Matt. 18:7.
The song caused me to think about Jesus’ interaction with sinners and the religious leaders of His day. So here are few examples:
- Jesus willingly dined with sinners. When asked about the practice by the Pharisees, His answer was simple: only the sick need a physician. Matthew 9
- Jesus made a straight forward statement to the scribes & Pharisees who had dragged a woman caught in adultery to the center of the temple court. “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” They all walked out one at a time….John 8.
- When Peter sinned by denying Christ three times at the crucifixion, Jesus restored relationship with him in John 21. Peter denied Christ three times, and Christ asked Peter three times, “Do you love Me?”
- Zaccheus is the famous “short man” of the Bible in Luke 19. He was a deceitful tax collector who had defrauded many people. But as Jesus passed by the sycamore tree where he was perched to get a good look at the Master, he was called down to a dinner that would change his life! Of course the Pharisees had something to say about Jesus eating with a crooked tax collector, but that is ok, because Jesus knew His mission – “to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10.
For example, when Zaccheus received Jesus gladly, he restored 4 fold what he had defrauded people. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to “go and sin no more”.
