Jesus Eats With Sinners...And Will Judge Us After the Meal

Jesus ate with sinners. He walked with them, stayed in their homes, touched them and healed their diseases. Jesus eating with sinners is actually the best description of Him, though it was not made in praise, but in derision: "This Man receives sinners and eats with them" (Luke 15:2).
Jesus eating with sinners is what saves us - "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).

Jesus did indeed eat with sinners, and still does.

Painting by David Iles (detail)

But, something we must remember about Jesus and us sinners is this - He will also judge us.

"Jesus ate with sinners!" has become almost as misused and misunderstood as "don't judge others" by those of us looking to sound vaguely Biblical when we're called out for doing wrong. When we lustily cry "Jesus ate with sinners!" to defend our unrepentant behavior, we willfully forget that He told the same sinners with whom He ate two thousand years ago that they would not escape the consequences of their rejection of Him:

"Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: 'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.'" (Matthew 11:20-24).

When Jesus ate with sinners, He was not doing it to be cool, nice, or friendly. Jesus was showing them He loved them so that they would repent. He was likely eating with His mouth full as He taught the people with whom He ate, about Scripture, His Father, about eternal life. Yet if we accept Jesus at our dinner table, yet don't repent and walk with Him after the meal is done, we say, "enjoy the rigatoni, but keep Your mouth shut about my sins, and get out as soon as You've gotten rid of my dirty dishes."

When My Fellow Christians Act Like Absolute Butt-Pheasants

There was an incident at a Bible study some time ago that very much disturbed me. Jeremiah 29:11 was brought up. The verse that says, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

This is a well-known verse, as many Christians hold it as a reminder of God's love, and will often post it on social media, wear it on a T-shirt, or carry it in their wallet. But to my Bible group, that sort of thing was absurd; something only a total noob would do.

"Ha!" one scoffed. "They think that verse is about them!"

"They don't even get the context!" another remarked.

"Hey, hey - I'm gonna put a Bible verse out of context on a coffee mug just like those Christians do, but it'll be one of the dark ones. Like 'I will dig your grave, for you are vile!' Lolololol!"

And on they went like that.

Context is very important in Scripture. Not understanding that leads to a lot of unfair, and without citing proper context, hollow and inaccurate, criticisms and misunderstandings about the Bible. It can also lead to the schemes of the Joel Osteens of the world. This particular verse in Jeremiah expressed God's love for those of Judah who had been exiled to Babylon in the sixth century BC as punishment for their unrepentant idol worship.

However, it is important to note that verses written to a specific person or group of people in the Bible can parallel and echo God's truth that applies to all of us today.

Even a verse like that in Nahum, when God tells Nineveh, "I will dig your grave, for you are vile," though written as a warning to a violent kingdom oppressing the Jews, is still a reminder that vengeance is the Lord's, and He will bring unrepentant evildoers to punishment.

Heaven forbid a Christian read a Bible verse like Jeremiah 29:11 and be reminded of God's love and faithfulness, and know that He still holds those same qualities in the twenty-first century. 

What if a new believer had heard my Bible group say these snarky, condescending things? They would most likely be confused and hurt, maybe even driven away from the Gospel completely, as is the case with many new Christians whose fellow believers acted so snobbishly.

If anyone reading this has ever been hurt by Christians who have made arrogant remarks such as these, or have done worse, please don't judge the Gospel, or even God, by their deeds. He loves you, welcomes you, and His Holy Spirit longs to guide you and love you - without the butt-pheasantry of the more self-assured and pompous of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Poem: Breakfast With Saucy Jack

I got a standing breakfast date with Saucy Jack 

every morning at the same time, around dawn, 

as hell's bells cease to chime and I hear the 

bells of Old Bailey (that's an England thing 

for you Yanks). Jack never tries to pay me, 

and he never says thanks. The deal is, he 

tells me about life, things gritty and ugly 

and hard, things that made King George crack - 

and I don't tell Scotland Yard his name ain't really Jack.

I know what he's been doing all night, 

but I've never said I knew. But this morning, 

the severed kidney in his pocket killed my 

appetite (I wager it would yours too), so 

I ask my friend Jack, face to face, if only 

out of spite because my breakfast went to waste:
"Jack, how can you do what you do every night?"

"It's easy, boss," he says, "you pick the ones 

nobody wants - you can usually tell 'cos they 

got no teeth - pick a simpleminded one, a 

drunk one wobbly on her feet, and wear a 

dark coat so no one sees you run."

"I don't mean that, Jack. I mean, don't it bother 

you to kill?"
"Nah, mate; if they ain't human, it ain't murder. 

If I don't slice 'em, the Tories will."

"But don't you think it's a sin? Don't you think they matter?"
"It's a sin to starve in the East End, all the while Her Majesty gets fatter."

I don't bother to argue or tell him two wrongs 

don't make a right. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
"Mate, you know I never sleep a wink."

He's late for a meeting in Parliament and has to find a sink. 

Jack asks me to mail a letter and promise not to tell. 

It's a letter to the police, saying they'll never catch him, 

they're far too late, and it says it's sent 

"From Hell."

Jack puts on his coat and heads for Westminster. 

I tell him I'll mail his note, afraid he won't be my friend 

if I don't. I'm tempted to tell the Prime Minister, but it 

would do no good - he's the one who signed the bill 

Preacher Booth called a license to kill.

Tonight, below my room on Mitre Square, I hear 

a scream. I think of Saucy Jack - if she ain't human, 

what does it matter? I pretend it's all a dream, I pretend 

I'm not a coward, all the while a toothless nobody is 

sliced and overpowered. A little while passes, it's quiet 

on the Square; she ain't human, I think, 

why should anybody care?

Like clockwork, I hear a call for help and a 

peeler carriage clink and clatter.
Like a postcard from hell, my heart receives a message - 

"she ain't human; what's it matter?"

The Unfair Gospel of Jesus

Infamous serial killer, cannibal, and necrophiliac Jeffrey Dahmer accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior just two years or so before he himself was murdered in prison in 1994. For a life lived in disbelief, for well over a decade of murder and gruesome, vile acts upon other human beings, Jeffrey Dahmer served just over three years in custody before, according to the facets of the Christian Gospel, he was sent to the eternal bliss of Paradise. A saint simply being one who is in Christ, Jeffrey Dahmer holds the same title as Billy Graham.

This is unfair. The families of Dahmer's victims, who hoped to see him locked behind bars - and worse - received less than an ounce of justice when you consider Dahmer's short prison term on Earth, and the Gospel's promise that he, having accepted Christ, has been given eternal life with God.

The Gospel is a beautiful Gospel, but it's also a difficult one, a gritty one, a gory one, and by the standards of us fleshly creatures, a very unfair Gospel.

Jeffrey Dahmer's crimes may be unique in their exceptionally bizarre and heinous nature, but his circumstances as a whole are not. Multitudes and multitudes of sinners like Dahmer, like me, like you, have accepted the salvation offered by Jesus Christ through His sacrifice on the cross, and our crimes have been washed away, expunged from our records. We were not punished, we were not stoned to death by the congregation, not swallowed up by the earth, not plundered and torn apart by Babylonian invaders.

I, as the 57th worst sinner who ever lived, am not sorry for this. I feel no guilt or shame that I've been rescued from my sins while having paid no price for it to be so. I regret the price I made others pay in my sinful behavior, but the One who removed those crimes from my record doesn't desire that I wallow in shame and misery over it. He is faithful to give me tasks and duties to glorify Him, to live a life in light rather than the one I lived in darkness. But He's not required me to roll in ashes and beat my breast, declaring what miserable, rotten things I've done; He's not required me to pay a monetary tax as penance to keep me in His embrace.

This is grossly unfair. But if it's any consolation to the outside observer, God played by His own unfair rules when He came to Earth in the flesh and suffered just like you and I do.

He endured temptation, but was without sin. He faced scorn, ridicule and plots against His life, though He had done no wrong, though He had brought an abundance of good in His ministry. He endured every day frustrations and agonies like you and me. And, He was tried and condemned, though without sin, and executed in the most agonizing way possible. A true criminal, an insurrectionist named Barabbas, was meanwhile set free.

While He was fastened by nails to that ominous cross, slowly dying, a criminal crucified next to Him groaned in his own agony that this Man from Galilee had done nothing wrong, and asked the He remember him when He came into His kingdom - if the criminal even knew just what that meant.

The condemned sinless One declared to the condemned rotten one, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

For all his years of habitual offenses and recklessness, a few hours of faith in the One who shows grace and mercy brought the unknown criminal to eternal life where there is no more pain, decay, sorrow or death.

There is no way around it - the Gospel of grace is an unfair Gospel.

drawing by Albert Servaes

"'Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you'...So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen."
-Jesus Christ, Matthew 20:14, 16

Poem: "Shangra Lah" (In the Wake of Sri Lanka & Christchurch)

Sri Lanka sounds so exotic
Christchurch is too sacred to say
The only bloodshed I know is in
Cochise County and this ratty paperback about Khe Sanh
So I'll give an exotic name to the space under my bed
When I hide there, from your bombs and bullets,
I'll feel cultured in the dark
I'll feel far away, part of a UN assembly to solve it all
I'll call it Shangra Lah; that's what I'll call
the dark under my bed
I'm the US Ambassador to Shangra Lah
It sounds so exotic, someplace they find rare pearls
I must have heard it in a song
or another worn out war book with outdated maps
I'll be in Shangra Lah when you need me
If you want my thoughts on Peru or the President
you'll have to wait - I'm on diplomatic business,
deep in the dark of Shangra Lah.

-Bud Sturguess,
April 24, 2019

Poem: "Peckerwood Hill"

You don't know much yet -
you don't know laws or judges, priests or rites
You don't even know the words to "Hey Jude"
But today, today is your birthday
Conceived by cousins and poorly sculpted
by the cosmos

The doctors -
Oppenheimer, Kevorkian, and a nurse from Buchenwald,
they've all taken the oath -
welcome you to the world
and do what love will never have a chance to do -
they stop your heart

They won't send you, what they can't use of you,
expendable outlaw,
to Peckerwood Hill -
that crowded concrete orchard in Texas
full of executed killers and three-strike scoundrels
who wasted away in the infirmary
Their brothers ceased to speak their names
the day the verdict came down,
the day the warrant was signed
So to Peckerwood Hill they went
unclaimed, unloved, unnamed,
to await the Resurrection and a brand new trial

But you, birthday boy,
Peckerwood Hill is not for you
That's for human beings,
forgotten, discarded as they were
You're less, so you'll be put somewhere less
Dissected, photographed
Maybe a jar of formaldehyde is the best they'll do for you

Today is your birthday and I cannot promise you a thing
No fairy tales, no fables, no lullabies
Not even a crowded garden of rocks called Peckerwood Hill -
that's only for us killers and thieves

-by Bud Sturguess

Matter of Record: Tim Keller Quote Used in My Book

Uh-oh... today I saw this Timothy Keller quote on Twitter:
"The church is not a museum for pristine saints, but a hospital ward for broken sinners."
I wrote something extremely similar to this in one of my books, Sheep Named Spike. I've never read Tim Keller's books, so I'm thinking maybe I saw it quoted somewhere else and it stayed in my subconscious. The first version of my book was published in 2015, and I'm guessing Mr. Keller wrote that statement before then (though I haven't checked). How embarrassing for me. Buuuuuut I know he won't sue me because 1 Corinthians 6 forbids Christians from suing other Christians! HA! YEET!
Anyway, I'm posting this for what it's worth, in the rare event my book ever takes off, to acknowledge my accidental plagiarism. My apologies to Mr. Keller, and kudos for writing such a poignant statement!

-Bud Sturguess
January 18, 2019