Re:Verse reading–Acts 11:1-26 (day seven)
Jesus regularly got into trouble with religious folks. One of the constant accusations against Him was eating with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus made it a habit to eat with people no one else would eat with, going out of His way for people of different statures and ignoble backgrounds. At the time, the disciples were not sure of Jesus’s behavior either, but here in Acts 11, Peter is being accused of the very same thing: eating with riffraff.
As a pastor, I find my meals are filled up with good Christian people. Those are always a great boon to me, but I’m never accused of eating with riffraff. For my social standing that works out fine, but for my mission to be a witness to the world for Jesus Christ it is a terrible strategy. If we are going to reach out and share the love of Christ with the world we must share meals with worldly people. We eat with those that are exceedingly sinful and those that are ostracized by everyone else.
Who will you be accused of having lunch with this week?
The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:30-32
The Lord Jesus teaches us a very important lesson about how to made right with God. It is the humble sinner who is righteous in God’s sight.
Jesus knew so well His mission from God, His Father on earth. His purpose was to come to the world in the form of man to transform the sinners through God’s grace and mercies. He ate with sinners because His mission was to seek and to save the lost. He was obedient to His Father and nothing could stop stop Him from sharing God’s mercy with those in need.
The most important lesson for us to take away from this blog is that people should not
rush to condemn others when they are not in compliance with social norms. They have a higher purpose than to try to fit in to get along or to be accepted by peers or by their own culture. How to make right with God is what we need to seek for, not to make right with the world!