Becoming a Friend of Sinners

Though it was intended as a slight against Him, one of the more significant ways Jesus was described is, “a friend… of sinners” (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34). Somewhat ironically, if Jesus were not the friend of sinners, then no one, not even the self-righteous individuals who tried to slander Jesus by describing Him as one, would have any chance at overcoming sin. “All,” even they, “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Though we were sinners, as Christians who are saved by the blood of Jesus, we need to join Jesus in befriending those who are still in sin, particularly those who are not Christians. While we could learn a lot in this regard simply by reflecting on Jesus, I wanted to zoom in on some other friends of sinners that Jesus encountered in His ministry and their powerful and sometimes overlooked example, recorded in Mark 2:1-12.

One day, Jesus was in a house in Capernaum, preaching “the word to them” (Mark 2:2). Outside the house, there was a man simply described as “a paralytic” (Mark 2:3). The extent of his paralysis seems to be indicated by the fact that he “was lying” on a bed (Mark 2:4) which was his (Mark 2:9, 11), implying perhaps that this is where he stayed. That this man was a sinner is confirmed by Jesus, who, when He first saw the man said, “Son, your sins are forgiven you” (Mark 2:5). However, since he was a paralytic, he had a big problem: he had no way to get to Jesus. As a paralytic, he was in no condition to walk to the house, let alone fight through the crowds to get help from the only one who could help him with either his paralysis or his sin.  

What was true of that paralytic man literally and physically is true of so many people in our world figuratively. “Hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13), they find themselves virtually paralyzed as relates to coming to Jesus, His church, or His saving Gospel. Spiritually speaking, they haven’t run, walked, or crawled in a long time, and there is such a great crowd of people, things, and ideas between them and Jesus. Like the man of Mark 2, they need some friends.

Those who would be friends of sinners need to have an understanding of the obstacles between sinners and Jesus and be prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to help them overcome those obstacles. The paralytic man of Mark 2 had at least 4 such friends. Assessing the situation, they knew 1) that their friend needed to get to Jesus, 2) that he could not do so on his own, 3) that no one could get to Jesus conventionally through such a crowd, and 4) that the only way to get to Jesus was through the roof.

Many years ago, I had a hypoglycemic episode while I was hiking on a mountain. The people who came to my assistance did not know what was wrong with me and determined that the best course of action was to carry me on a stretcher to a backcountry lodge further up the mountain. I know firsthand that carrying someone up an incline comes with a lot of logistical challenges, let alone being carried to a roof top! Yet the friends were so prepared to navigate these challenges that the text totally bypasses the event of getting up to the roof! Likewise, there is no record of a conversation between the friends about a potential angry homeowner responding to having his roof “broken through” (Mark 2:4). These four men knew how important it was to get their friend to Jesus and were no doubt prepared to deal with whatever consequences arose from the extreme measures they took.

While you will occasionally find people who “are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34), you will more often than not find that there are many, many obstacles between people and Jesus, and it is incredibly important that you understand those obstacles. For example, when I served as a missionary in Australia, I had the opportunity to teach as a volunteer in a public school program that existed at the time called “Christian Religious Education” (it was a wonder to me at the time that such a program existed, and it is no wonder to me that it no longer does). One day, I wrote a simple Scripture reference on the board. Out of the hundred and twenty or so fifth and sixth graders that I taught that day, only a handful had a clue what it was. We so often assume that people have the same understanding and respect for the Bible that we do, but the truth is that many people don’t. It’s our job to do everything that we can to ensure that “he who occupies the place of the uninformed” can “say ‘Amen’” to our efforts, not preach to them or teach them in an unknown tongue (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:16).

Biblical illiteracy is just one barrier that keeps people from Jesus. People sometimes find themselves paralyzed by emotional, relational, physical, financial, social, intellectual, geographical, and a host of other issues, each of which can be navigated, but each of which must be navigated with care. Imagine if the four friends had dropped the paralytic off the roof! Yet they didn’t, and we should likewise take care to handle barriers with grace so that people are not made worse by our efforts. Let me be clear: doing something is better than doing nothing. However, it would be extremely foolish to do something in the name of Christ without considering His teachings such as, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Colossians 4:6), or, “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth” (2 Timothy 2:24-25), or, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).

I should point out before I close that the paralytic did not only have four friends that day, or even five if you include Jesus, the Friend of sinners. The text reads, “Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men” (Mark 2:3). I don’t know how many “they” were besides those four, but it’s clear that caring for this sinner was a group exercise even if the majority of the work was done by four. It’s terrible when someone does good evangelistic work and brings someone else to a church building only for that person to be ignored or treated rudely by the rest of the church. Let’s all strive to be like Jesus and be friends of sinners, and let’s all learn from the many friends who surrounded one particular sinner and brought him to Jesus on that day long ago in Capernaum.  

-Patrick Swayne  
patrick@tftw.org