Unfailing love and truth have met on their way; righteousness and peace have kissed one another.
Jesus had great hope for the prostitute, the thug tax collector, the adulterer, the leper, and the thief suffering the penalty of death. If any of these social outcasts were to inquire about redemption, He did not flinch. Forgiveness was standing before them. When someone in the self-righteous religious establishment approached Him, such as Nicodemus or the rich young ruler, He did not quickly promise them Paradise, as He did the thief on the cross. Instead, Jesus asked the religious to sell all they had and give to the poor or to be reborn. He seemed to be asking for the impossible from Nicodemus, but to the woman caught in adultery, He offered forgiveness and simply asked her to sin no more.
The outcasts and degenerates, the people we would warn our children to avoid as the “bad people,” seemed to be closer to the kingdom than the upstanding and seemingly righteous. How have we drifted so far from the heart of Jesus when it comes to broken people? Have we missed out on the kingdom by avoiding the people we are called to embrace? Jesus spoke in mysterious parables at times, but when it came to His love for the broken-down sinner and His insistence that we are in no position to stand as judge, He could not have been more clear.
If you judge other people, then you will find that you, too, are being judged. Indeed, you will be judged by the very standards to which you hold other people. Why is it that you see the dust in your brother’s or sister’s eye, but you can’t see what is in your own eye? Don’t ignore the wooden plank in your eye, but criticize the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eyelashes. That type of criticism and judgment is a sham! Remove the plank from your own eye, and then perhaps you will be able to see clearly how to help your brother flush out his sawdust. (Matt. 7:1-5)
The Bible is clear that we are all sinners, but we want to put everyone in a category. Sadly, we have chosen to put people in boxes that are not helpful, but are incorrect and contrary to the truth of Scripture. Despite all of its merit, the Greek worldview has created a treacherous ground for Christianity. What the Hebrew viewed holistically, the Greek divided and dichotomized. Modern Christians have taken a previously integrated world and subdivided it into the sacred or secular, physical or spiritual, good or bad, profane or religious—categories that do not serve us well because they are simply untrue. God created the physical, and that makes it uniquely spiritual. The so-called “bad people” are also created in the image of God.
Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, so we used to get outfield deck seats (a.k.a. “the cheap seats”) to see the baseball games at the Astrodome. Most of the people buying the cheap seats did so to save more money for beer. After the first few innings, they were drunk, and by the time the seventh-inning stretch rolled around, there would be beer mixed with peanut shells on the floor, spilled beer down your back, and a brawl two rows over and back to the left. It was ugly out there. As a kid, I learned from a lot of people that we were sitting with the “bad people.” (Could there be a more unchristian, or unbiblical, statement?) By the time we noticed someone drinking his second beer, we’d start pulling away from him.
There was this one consistent drunk fan named Batty Bob. He was a self-proclaimed Houston Astros mascot. He’d come to all the games wearing a rainbow wig, and he’d lead slurred cheers in the stands. I remember one time my dad went out to sit and talk with Batty Bob. He spent the whole game with Bob, then walked him out to the parking lot to bring him home with us. I was more than confused, because this guy was one of the “bad people.” When we got home, my dad came to me and explained how God loved Batty Bob. I remember thinking, ‘Really? Batty Bob?’ And he stayed with us for a few days to get back on his feet. This is when I started to realize that God did not despise these people; he dearly loved them.
Jesus became increasingly popular among notorious sinners—tax collectors and other social outcasts. The Pharisees and religious scholars noticed this.
Pharisees and Religious Scholars: This man welcomes immoral people and enjoys their company over a meal!
Jesus (with another parable): Wouldn’t every single one of you, if you have 100 sheep and lose one, leave the 99 in their grazing lands and go out searching for the lost sheep until you find it? When you find the lost sheep, wouldn’t you hoist it up on your shoulders, feeling wonderful? And when you go home, wouldn’t you call together your friends and neighbors? Wouldn’t you say, “Come over and celebrate with me, because I’ve found my lost sheep”? This is how it is in heaven. They’re happier over one sinner who changes his way of life than they are over 99 good and just people who don’t need to change their ways of life. (Luke 15:1-7)
Many Christians see the world this way, and are blind in their point of view. It’s time to stop categorizing one another and call this line of sight what it is: heresy, specifically Gnosticism. Our broken ideology can be rescued when we forsake the “sacred versus secular” labels and see what has been redeemed and what is in need of redemption. People are not good or bad; they are simply broken, and God has either restored them to shalom or is seeking to restore them to shalom. Imagine seeing people as “broken shalom” or “shalom,” rather than good or bad. If you see them in the midst of broken shalom, it does not allow you to look down on them; instead, it calls you to join God in His redemptive work in their lives. What a beautiful privilege.
