Monday, March 25, 2013

Jesus, Bars, and Parties


“Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the ‘sinners’ and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and “sinners”?’

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” (Mark 2:13-17 NIV)

A student once wrote to me asking what I thought about Christians going to bars and drinking with non-Christian friends.  She said she had received criticism from some Christians, but felt they were judgmental and legalistic.  She didn’t understand what the big deal was and quoted this passage of Scripture as evidence that Jesus, too, was hanging out in places frequented by “sinners.”  

I responded by asking her if her main motivation was to proclaim the light of Christ to her friends since that was Jesus’ motivation, to see people reconciled to God.  She never responded.

Most people who seek to use this passage as permission to hang out in bars or with their non-Christian friends at parties miss the main point—the reason Jesus was doing so.  He wasn’t doing it because He wanted to be popular or cool.  He wasn’t doing it because He was afraid people might think He was “holier than thou” if He didn’t.  He wasn’t doing it because He feared losing friendships established before He began His ministry. He was doing it solely because He cared about the lost and their spiritual well-being.  

They also miss the fact He was the Son of God, quite able to handle the temptations of the world.  Most who seek justification to hang out at bars and parties are spiritually immature and are prone to falling to temptation.

We indeed need Christians who are rubbing shoulders with sinners in places where they are likely to be found, but the questions we each must ask if we are joining them are: Is my motivation solely for the sake of seeing them come into relationship with Jesus?  And, am I spiritually strong enough to be a powerful witness rather than a hypocrite and at risk of damaging my own walk with the Lord?  

If we really want to use Jesus as a reason for going to bars and parties, then our motivation and our spiritual strength need to be the same as His.

© Jim Musser 2013

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