How Christ Viewed Sinners

   In John 7:49 there’s this from the church-leaders, the orthodox scholars: “This rabble that does not know the law—they’re accursed.” Then there’s this in  Matthew 14:14, “When He went ashore He saw a great crowd; and He had compassion for them and cured their sick.” There lies the difference between Jesus and brass-necked leadership.

It isn’t the only difference, don’t you know, and if you isolate it it’s not even the main difference, but it is a profound difference. Jesus saw “the mob” and when He saw them He felt something, and He did something. In a multitude of 5,000 plus (Matt. 14:21) there must have been a lot of mixed motives, promises unkept, grudges harbored, self-serving, and such. They would have been like any other crowd, ancient or modern. Christ could see it for He knew people. And yet, when He looked, “He had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Matt. 9.36, 14:14). “Yes, but if He knew they were sinners, why did He think them like sheep without a shepherd? Why did He see them as uncared for? Why did He feel compassion toward them—or did He scan them with the speed of light and feel compassionate toward the upright in heart and indifferent toward the others?” This is “the Holy One” (Acts 3:14; John 6:69, following NIV and others). Tell me how we can be holy as He is holy? I don’t mean how can we be sinless or how can we feel as deeply as He? Forget that for now! It’s not going to happen! Whimpering on and on about our sinfulness helps no one. Help us to lift up our eyes and at least see better, purer, cleaner things. But help us to be holy like Him and still look on people with all the marks of unholiness written on their faces and see them at least as needy people.

He wasn’t the first kind man or the only one in the world, but He alone, flawlessly and truly, imaged GOD, looking on the sinful, feeling what they felt and longing to do them good. For all our wishing, for all our longing there is a chasm between us and Christ that we cannot bridge; His holiness simply outdistances our most fervent imaginings. It has nothing to do with miraculous power; it has nothing to do with His being able to feed thousands with little or nothing. It has all to do with His unutterable holiness looking on sinners and wanting to do them good, wanting to heal their sick, wanting to lift them out of their gloom and hurt and give them reason to believe that the worst they’ve done doesn’t have the last word. Later, maybe later, if we now and then, at least, hunger and thirst for righteousness, we’ll, in happy astonishment, find ourselves engaged in wise feeding, clothing, housing, and enabling in needed ways and thank God that we are more like Him than we thought possible.                                                             Kenny Chumbley

In John 7:49 there’s this from the church-leaders, the orthodox scholars: “This rabble that does not know the law—they’re accursed.” Then there’s this in  Matthew 14:14, “When He went ashore He saw a great crowd; and He had compassion for them and cured their sick.” There lies the difference between Jesus and brass-necked leadership.

It isn’t the only difference, don’t you know, and if you isolate it it’s not even the main difference, but it is a profound difference. Jesus saw “the mob” and when He saw them He felt something, and He did something. In a multitude of 5,000 plus (Matt. 14:21) there must have been a lot of mixed motives, promises unkept, grudges harbored, self-serving, and such. They would have been like any other crowd, ancient or modern. Christ could see it for He knew people. And yet, when He looked, “He had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Matt. 9.36, 14:14). “Yes, but if He knew they were sinners, why did He think them like sheep without a shepherd? Why did He see them as uncared for? Why did He feel compassion toward them—or did He scan them with the speed of light and feel compassionate toward the upright in heart and indifferent toward the others?” This is “the Holy One” (Acts 3:14; John 6:69, following NIV and others). Tell me how we can be holy as He is holy? I don’t mean how can we be sinless or how can we feel as deeply as He? Forget that for now! It’s not going to happen! Whimpering on and on about our sinfulness helps no one. Help us to lift up our eyes and at least see better, purer, cleaner things. But help us to be holy like Him and still look on people with all the marks of unholiness written on their faces and see them at least as needy people.

He wasn’t the first kind man or the only one in the world, but He alone, flawlessly and truly, imaged GOD, looking on the sinful, feeling what they felt and longing to do them good. For all our wishing, for all our longing there is a chasm between us and Christ that we cannot bridge; His holiness simply outdistances our most fervent imaginings. It has nothing to do with miraculous power; it has nothing to do with His being able to feed thousands with little or nothing. It has all to do with His unutterable holiness looking on sinners and wanting to do them good, wanting to heal their sick, wanting to lift them out of their gloom and hurt and give them reason to believe that the worst they’ve done doesn’t have the last word. Later, maybe later, if we now and then, at least, hunger and thirst for righteousness, we’ll, in happy astonishment, find ourselves engaged in wise feeding, clothing, housing, and enabling in needed ways and thank God that we are more like Him than we thought possible.                                                             Kenny Chumbley