Eating With Sinners
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus receives and eats with sinners. That sentence should
shock you. But we have become accustomed to it. We are used to it. But try substituting
real groups of sinners for the word “sinners.” “Jesus receives abortionists.”
“Jesus receives homosexuals.” “Jesus receives terrorists.” Imagine our Lord
sitting down to dinner with Boko Haram! What a scandalous idea. But the truth
is, Jesus would receive, sit down, and eat with the likes of Adolf Hitler,
Osama Bin Laden, and Jeffrey Dahmer, if they would only repent.
It is a bit hard to take at first, but the grace of God is
wide open. He didn’t just die for the polite members of society, for people who
meant well but made a few mistakes. He died for all. His death is enough to
cover the sins of the worst, the ugliest, the cruelest members of our race. He
receives and eats with sinners without discrimination. It is a bit hard to take
because we don’t want to be in that group—and, if we’re honest, something in us
wants to believe in karma; the Old Adam wants certain people to suffer and be
punished. All too easily we walk the path of the Pharisees. Repent.
If Jesus is to receive and eat with you, you must not be
too proud to keep company with sinners. You are a person of unclean lips; you
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. You have lived as if God did
not matter, as though fooling your neighbor meant you could fool God. You have
not honored His Name as you should. Your worship and your prayers have
faltered. You have resisted His love. You have feared His exclusive claim on
you, desiring instead the pleasures of the flesh. You have hurt your family and
neighbors with gossip and slander and sarcasm. You have failed to help those in
need. Your thoughts, your words, and your deeds have been soiled with sin. You
are a sinner. Repent. We have fallen far short of the Law’s just standard. We
are guilty. We deserve damnation.
So repent…but do not despair. Damnation is what you
deserve, but it is not what you get, for Jesus receives and eats with sinners!
He suffered damnation for you. He died not just for the notorious sinners, but
also for the cowardly and lazy ones; for the dregs of society, but also for the
upper crust; and even for the person who sinned against you.
It is a bit hard to accept at first, but then, what
wonderful joy! You don’t have to prove yourself. You don’t have to earn your
way. He provides everything—even the faith which clings to Him. Jesus loves
you. He loves you perfectly, without fine print or limit. There is nothing left
to pay. He has made satisfaction for the sins of all. He has reconciled you to
His Father, put death to death, and rose victorious from the grave. He
substitutes His perfect life for your life. His perfect faith and His wounds plead
to the Father on your behalf. His perfect love fulfills all the law for you.
He receives and
eats with sinners! He even provides the food we need: both to support of this
body and life and to sustain the soul unto life everlasting. He gives His holy body
and precious blood for you to eat and to drink. He is the Lord of creation, and
He has joined Himself to creation in becoming a Man. He took up our flesh to become the
sacrifice for our sins. He rose from the dead in His body. He ascended in that body
to His Father’s right hand. Even now He comes to us in that body. He is true
God and true man, and He comes to us this day as our Savior in the flesh, alive
out of death, crucified and risen. He comes for the washing away of our sins
and the cleansing of our hearts. In the Sacrament of the Altar, Jesus receives
and eats with sinners, changing them, transforming them, renewing them. Jesus receives
and eats with you. You have nothing left of which to be ashamed, to feel guilty
about, or to fear. Jesus loves you. That is enough. In
the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God
which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
always. Amen.
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