Yeshua

A Disciple’s Pet Peeves: “Jesus Hung Out with Sinners”

~ Heather Davis ~ 15 Comments

I first learned to love God through His Word and didn’t walk through the doors of a church building until I’d read and wrestled through the Book at least once. Since then, I’ve continued to read and wrestle through the Bible repeatedly – a practice that’s brought to light some rather odd discrepancies between the actual Words of God and Bible-belt churchianity culture where I live. A few of these discrepancies have grown into pet peeves, like the oft-repeated mantra, “Jesus hung out with sinners.”

To that, I can only muster both shreds of dignity, roll my eyes, and state with all possible decorum, “Well, duh!”

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:5

I have to wonder if anyone who repeats this slogan has actually read the Bible. The whole of it, I mean; not just the verse of the day, an occasional victorious meme, or Aunt Sue’s Hobby Lobby signs.

The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Psalm 14:2-3

Honestly, you don’t need to turn many pages of Scripture to find human beings sinning. All of them. Starting with the first two ever created and spiraling downward from there. My rogue race began with simple disobedience and quickly progressed to bloodshed, polygamy, incest – and it just keeps getting worse.

Even David, the man after God’s own heart, committed adultery (and possibly rape) followed by conspiracy to commit murder to cover his backside (see 1 Samuel 13:14, 2 Samuel 11). Anyone reading it can see the truth behind Paul’s words: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). An honest look at the news headlines, social media feeds, or even our own lives confirms this truth is ongoing.

My best guess is that those who repeat this inane refrain are drawing from segments of Scripture such as the following excerpt:

And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:15-17

It’s true – Jesus did dine with sinners. In fact, every time He ate in the presence of a human being, He was dining with a sinner.

To put it another way, Jesus didn’t come to earth with the option of going on occasional retreats with His like-minded buddies who were also sinless incarnations of the Living God. Every person He interacted with was a sinner.

Jesus had no alternatives; if He hung out with anyone, He hung out with sinners.

However, those who spend their time parroting this phrase without contemplation are missing the beauty of the passage. When the Lord responded to the accusations of the Pharisees and scribes, He wasn’t telling them that He preferred the company of sinners to the company of upstanding, righteous members of the community. Or in today’s vernacular, He wasn’t saying He’d rather hang out with prostitutes and drunks than with pastors and clergy.

Instead, He was subtly rebuking them.

Jesus didn’t come to call the righteous – because there are none. He came to call sinners, a label we all carry whether we realize it or not. Even those Pharisees. Especially those Pharisees and those of us who – like them – believe we are “good people” because of what we’ve done and because of our ability to justify the ickier deeds.

I stood upon a high place,
And saw, below, many devils
Running, leaping,
and carousing in sin.
One looked up, grinning,
And said, “Comrade! Brother!”

Stephen Crane

That Jesus spent time around sinners is a given, but the reason this phrase has become a pet peeve is the way it’s often used. Too often, people sling these words around to justify their own poor choices in companionship. If we were Jesus, we needn’t worry about being corrupted by the company we keep. But we are not Him.

While it’s vital that we tell everyone the gospel, it’s also important that we remember our own proclivity to stray. As my pastor says, we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily; keeping alert to our own need of Him and remaining wary lest we take the easy road into sinful practices and disavow the gospel’s power by our deeds. Or by our pride.

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:2

Caught in the Act

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

I want to share a recent moment of conviction with y’all. I was caught in the act of sinning, but because I am a parent, I know it was for my own good.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

Hebrews 12:7

Last Saturday, I had a migraine and went to bed early. I woke up Sunday morning to find dirty dishes waiting for me in the kitchen. Since my husband and I are empty-nesters, it didn’t take much to determine the identity of the culprit. It made me angry, and my mind filled with ugly, hateful thoughts – thoughts I indulged as I began to tidy up.

Then my sullen inner dialog was interrupted by these words: the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve…

With that Scripture, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sinful response to my husband’s dish indiscretion.

One of the passages you’ll find this verse in is Matthew 20:20-28. This is where the mother of two of Jesus’s disciples, James and John, had approached the Lord. As if to prove helicopter moms existed before helicopters did, she asked that her sons be given prominent positions in His kingdom when Jesus established it.

Jesus responded in a way that doubtless stalled the rotors of the matriarch: He offered a lesson in humility. After an initial declaration that the positions of power she requested were not His to offer, He went on to teach hard truths about the power. The kind of power mankind associates with leadership is in stark contrast to God’s way of leading. In fact, Jesus stated that even He – the King of kings – “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

As the Spirit brought these things to mind, yours truly was certainly humbled and repented in prayer as I washed the dishes. But He was not done with me yet. While I went about my morning routine, God brought to mind all the ways my husband has given his life for me – working ridiculous hours so I could stay home with our kids when they were little, sacrificing so I could homeschool, and even staying in jobs that wore him out so our children could have a private school education in high school.

Then there’s Jesus who did give His life as a ransom for mine – even though in my arrogant youth, I mocked Him and His followers. Despite my scorn, He loved me and chose me, paying the penalty I deserved for my very haughtiness and my derision of Him.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. . . For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Romans 5:8, 10

And yet, here I was complaining about a couple of dishes.

The truth is, if I’m to be Christlike, that means being willing to serve. Period. No contingencies, no clauses, no conditions. I’m thankful for the Holy Spirit reminding me of this truth when I slipped into sin. Getting caught in the act may not be exactly comfortable, but I’ve come to learn that the end result is beyond wonderful.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:11

90 Second Devotional | December 15

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to my goofy attempts to have Advent devotionals with my busy college students who now live in 3 different cities…

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Genesis 14:18-20

Melchizedek is an interesting figure who first appears in Genesis chapter 14. At this point in history, Abram had just rescued his nephew Lot from Chedorlaomer, one of many kings who had gone to battle against the king of Sodom. After the victory, Abram goes to meet the king of Sodom in a valley when he is approached by Melchizedek, who is is described as the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God. Melchizedek brings out bread and wine, blesses Abram, and Abram gives him a tenth (or tithe) of all he has.

Now if we look at these terms, Melchizedek in Hebrew literally means “my king is righteous.” Salem, or sha-lame in Hebrew, is obviously related to shalom – peace. So we have my king is righteous, king of peace, priest of the Most High God.

Psalm 110 also mentions Melchizedek and is considered by many be a Messianic psalm. It says in verse four: “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.'” The writer of Hebrews, in chapter 7, also mentions Melchizedek and digs into the meanings behind the names among other things.

But what I want to look at is the fact that this king – my king is righteous, King of Peace – offered bread and wine to Abram.

I can’t help but think of Jesus, who at the Last Supper, took the bread, broke it after giving thanks, passed it around, and said, “Take and eat; this is my body;” and He took the cup of wine and blessed it, saying, “This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (see Matthew 26:26-28, et al). He ordered us to do this in remembrance of Him.

Our King is righteous, and He has done so much for us. It’s my prayer that you will know Him as your King of Peace, the King who is righteous, this holiday season and forever after.

90 Second Devotional | December 14

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to my goofy attempts to have Advent devotionals with my busy college students who now live in 3 different cities…

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. . 

Micah 5:2

Micah 5:2 records yet another prophecy of the Messiah. In it, His birthplace is declared – a town called Bethlehem. In Hebrew, בֵּית לֶ֫חֶם means House of Bread. It’s fascinating to me that the Lord would be born in a town by this name because in John 6:35, Jesus refers to Himself as the Bread of Life.

And He is the Bread that nourishes, sustains, and makes eternal life possible. All other bread gives only temporary sustenance. He alone can satisfy entirely and eternally.

Interestingly enough, John 6:22-59 records one of the most difficult teachings Jesus gave to the people, in part because it was incredibly offensive. There’s a lot behind His talk of eating His flesh and drinking His blood – much more than I can go over in the space of 90 seconds. For brevity’s sake, think about the old saying, “You are what you eat.”

If we literally take the life of Jesus into ourselves, letting Him be our source of life and let His life become the driving force of our own lives – literally letting Him transform us to be more like Him – I believe that’s the gist of what He was saying. Many people left Him after this and just walked away.

My question to you today is this: what do you do with the hard teachings of Jesus? Do you scoff and turn away? Or do you, like Peter in verse 68, say, “Lord, to whom should we go? You have the word of eternal life…”

85 Second Devotional | December 12

~ Heather Davis ~ 2 Comments

Welcome to my goofy attempts to have Advent devotionals with my busy college students who now live in 3 different cities.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. . . and his name shall be called. . . Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Peace is something that seems elusive to most of us in the modern world. After all, we can hardly escape the constant barrage of information, and most of us are now so accustomed to the incessant yammering of the media that we don’t even pay attention.

Another scandal involving high-ranking officials? Of course.

Government corruption exposed yet no one serves jail time. Naturally.

We’ve come to expect chaos, even embrace it. But the expectation comes at a cost. The US consistently ranks #1 or #2 for anxiety, depression, and substance abuse despite being the most affluent nation in the world. Money, it seems, does not buy us peace.

Sadly, as a nation we’ve rejected the Prince of Peace. Fewer Americans each year identify as Christian and of those who do, even fewer actually read the Bible or follow the teachings of the Christ they claim to serve. A 2019 Lifeway research study found evangelicals are far more likely to use social media daily than read their Bibles.

Yet in chapter 26, Isaiah writes, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock” (Isaiah 26:3-4).

We lack peace because we no longer truly trust in the Prince of Peace. But we can choose to change this. Will you?

60 Second Devotional | December 10

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to my goofy attempts to have Advent devotionals with my busy college students who now live in 3 different cities…

. . .and his name shall be called. . . Mighty God, Everlasting Father. . .

Isaiah 9:6

In Isaiah 9:6, the Messiah is also called, “Mighty God, Everlasting Father.” It’s interesting that many skeptics today claim Jesus never pretended to be God. And they’re right – He didn’t pretend. He knew it, He stated it, and He proved it.

In John 8, Jesus is teaching at the temple, and His teachings about being slaves to sin rubs some people wrong. They push back, calling Him a Samaritan (which would have been insulting to a Jewish man) and accusing Him of having a demon. In a bizarre refutation that they’ve ever been slaves, they invoke Abraham as their father.

To this, Jesus replies that Abraham saw His day come and was glad. This brings on jeers, and Jesus makes the bold claim, “Before Abraham was, I am.”

Jeers turned to rage as the crowd attempted to stone Him. They knew He was referring to Exodus 3:14 and making a claim to Divinity.

Another time, Jesus is at the Feast of Dedication being questioned at the temple by a crowd demanding to know if He is the promised Messiah. He tells them, “I and the Father are one,” but they are also discontent with His answer (see John 10:22-33).

But Jesus not only claimed divinity, He proved it. He lay down His life down but also took it up again, precisely as He promised He would do in John 10:18.

60 Second Devotional | December 9

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to my goofy attempts to have Advent devotionals with my busy college students who now live in 3 different cities…

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. . .

Isaiah 9:6

Today we are going to linger in Isaiah 9 and look at verse 6, specifically the prophecy that Messiah would be called Wonderful Counselor.

And Jesus is this Wonderful Counselor, though the advice He gives is very different from what you’ll get in the rest of the world. We are surrounded by advice to follow our hearts, to do what makes us happy, to live our truth, and all kinds of advice that sounds good on the surface. But anyone who’s tried to keep this advice, like I once did, will eventually end up feeling empty, unfulfilled, and even despondent.

The counsel Jesus gives is different. in the sermon on the mount, He warns us against laying up for ourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal, but advises us instead to store treasure in heaven where it will be secure.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

When we invest in a world that is doomed to pass away, we make a poor investment. But when we invest in Jesus and His eternal kingdom, our investment will pay dividends for all eternity.

60 Second Devotional | December 8

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

Isaiah 9 contains one of the most well-known prophecies of the coming Messiah. It offers hope in a broken and often terrifying world. This verse is near the beginning:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Isaiah 9:2

Did you know the Hebrew word translated “deep darkness” here is צַלְמָוֶת [tsalmâveth], the same word translated “shadow of death” in Psalm 23:4?

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 23:4

The word carries connotations of darkness and terror, danger, and yes, death.

The truth is, our world is filled with darkness, danger, terror, and death. Scripture tells us we are dead in our sins, which is why Jesus came. Because He is fully God, His life is worth far more than any created being. Because He is fully man, His willing death alone can repair the breach between God and man caused by sin.

That’s why He is the only Way to God. He is the Light which came into this world of deep darkness.

60 Second Devotional | December 7

~ Heather Davis ~ 3 Comments

Welcome to my goofy attempts to have Advent devotionals with my busy college students who now live in 3 different cities…

Psalm 22 is a known Messianic prophecy and one Jesus quoted the first few words of from the cross: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? ( see Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:26).

Keep reading the psalm and you’ll see prophecies that He will be scorned, despised, and mocked (v 6-7). Verse 8 is an accurate prediction of what was said about Jesus while He hung on the cross, which is recorded in Matthew 27:43 where the chief priests and elders mocked, “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God’ (Matthew 27:43).

The psalm also describes Him as being surrounded by evil men, having His strength dried up, being pierced, having his garments divided and lots cast for His clothing – all of which happened during the crucifixion. You can read the accounts in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19.

But what I love is the way the song ends in hope: They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it (Psalm 22:30-31).

He has done it. He has come. He will come again.

60 Second Devo | December 6

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
    I have sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your offspring forever,
    and build your throne for all generations.”

Psalm 89:3-4

There are several places throughout the Scriptures recording God’s promise to David that a ruler would come from his line who would reign forever. That promise was fulfilled in Jesus – the King of kings and Lord of lords who has established God’s eternal Kingdom.

But look around you. It doesn’t yet look like a Kingdom of peace and justice has come yet, does it? That’s because God sent the King first in a sort of covert operation (to borrow from C.S. Lewis), cloaked in humility. His plan was not to coerce or subdue, but to woo because God desires to share genuine love, not to merely conquer and control. Thus, Jesus experienced being human while modeling the humility and trust He wants from us.

The Kingdom begins in breaking the chains of sin, requiring humility and trust. But make no mistake – Jesus will come again, next time in His power to fully establish His Kingdom.

For those of us who love Him enough to be despised for His sake now, just as He once was for our sake, that Day will be the ultimate victory. For those who ignore Him, mistrust Him, mock Him, or reject Him, that day will be a terror. But He waits to give all of us a chance – to give all of us a choice.

Choose wisely.