God the Sinner

In a world built on cultivating "likes," it can be easy to fall into the trap that we are what we appear to be. 

We are whatever everyone else thinks we are, whatever they interpret us to be, whatever it seems on the surface. It doesn't matter what our real intentions are; it only matters how they are perceived. It doesn't matter what's in our heart; it only matters what it looks like. It doesn't matter how diligent we are in projecting exactly what we want to project; it only matters how someone else sees it. We are who others think us to be. 

And so, of course, we do our best to cultivate the image we want them to have of us. 

Not so, fortunately, with God. 

Jesus was always doing stuff that nobody would have ever expected a Messiah to do. Not even a Messiah, but just a regular ol' faithful guy. Just a good Jew. Just someone who actually loved God would not do the things that Jesus did. 

It was why there was so much tension between Him and the Pharisees. They couldn't believe there could be anything good about a man who associated with sinners, who touched the unclean, who broke the Sabbath, who spoke perceived threats against the temple, who blasphemed - He claimed to be God, for crying out loud. 

The Pharisees did everything they could to convince the crowds that this was no "good teacher" they were following; this sinner was going to lead them astray. 

Lead them right away from the hundreds of man-made regulations the Pharisees had imposed on them. 

The question is put poignantly in John 9, when the Pharisees are yet again determining that Jesus can't be any kind of a good or holy man because He doesn't even keep the Sabbath (which He seems to have broken, again, by having compassion on someone). 

Then others start asking, rightfully so, "But could a sinner do these miracles?" 

Could a sinner give sight to the blind? Could a sinner make the lame walk? Could a sinner heal a bleeding woman? Could a sinner cleanse the unclean? Could a sinner cast out demons? 

Say what you want to about the Guy, but there's no denying that the craziest, most dangerous man in the entire region is sitting "clothed and in his right mind" at the feet of Jesus. 

Could a sinner do that? 

Still today, we are debating such a thing. Still today, we are trying to figure out how Jesus would truly respond to the events of our times - we are declaring that one way is His way and might be righteous, and we're arguing over whether another way might not be. We're trying to figure out what the "image" of God is supposed to be and cultivate that...for "likes," of course. For a little bit more, maybe. For the same reasons as the Pharisees, probably. 

But God still doesn't care. He does the right thing and the righteous thing, the compassionate and merciful thing, the beautiful and holy thing, the unquestionably loving thing. 

And if we think that scandalous, if we think that unclean, if we think that backward, if we think, then, that He must be a sinner to do such a thing as this, well, then...we wouldn't be the first ones. 

But it won't stop Him from doing it.