New: 4 March 2025
Jesus showing Mercy as
the Friend of Sinners
Matthew 11:19
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8
Question
Why was Jesus so merciful to repenting sinners yet so tough on the religious people?
Context
Jesus was known as a 'friend of sinners' due to His association with sinners and His merciful attitude in forgiving them when they repented before God. The term was, at the time, a form of slander, not a compliment. He was called even worse: 'a glutton and a winebibber' due to His fellowship with sinners around the dinner table (Matthew 11:19). He was, of course, not what they slandered Him to be. He showed mercy to the sinners without participating in their sin. Yet some of the religious people, those who took religion seriously and sought to live up to its moral standards, were called 'hypocrites' and worse by Jesus. What was that all about? Didn't the 'bad guys' (the sinners) deserve punishment and the 'good guys' (the saints) some praise and reward for doing the right thing? If this was not some awkward twist of morality and justice by Jesus (which it was not), how can we explain that Jesus was so merciful to the repenting sinners, yet so tough on the religious groups?
Answer
The first and central message of Jesus the Messiah was, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand [has drawn near]. Repent, and believe in the gospel [good news]’ (Mark 1:15; cf., Matthew 4:17). He was sent for the purpose of preaching 'the kingdom of God' (Luke 4:43). The kingdom of God is God's rule and reign, the domain where His will is done—one earth as in Heaven (Matthew 6:9-10). One aspect of preaching 'the gospel [good news] of the kingdom of God' was healing the sick (Matthew 9:35), and another one, showing compassion on those 'weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd' (v 36). Jesus came 'to seek and to save that which was lost' (Luke 19:10), demonstrated in the case of showing mercy to Zaccheus (vv 1-9). Jesus would leave the 99 sheep behind and go after the one lost sheep (Matthew 18:10-14). Zaccheus, too, was a son of Abraham' (Luke 19:9) and, despite the fraud in his profession, deserved a chance at doing the right thing. And when Jesus visited him and showed him mercy, it changed his life. As a chief tax collector, he was rich and parts of that money was gained 'by false accusation' (v 8). In other words, his wealth was partly based on fraud and extortion. In the eyes of the people, he was 'a sinner,' and they complained that Jesus showed him mercy (v 7). But that visit brought forth not only the salvation of an influential person, but financial benefits by Zaccheus giving money to the poor and returning money falsely acquired. We might rightly assume that the complaining stopped after that generous gesture, which would fall under the category of what John the Baptist called, bearing 'fruits worthy of repentance' (Matthew 3:8). Jesus showed acceptance to a sinner who repented and who then demonstrated it by his actions. This was not fake. A rich (and, presumably, greedy) man giving away money is evidence of a transformed life. Jesus came to seek sinners to repent. It was a life changed; a soul saved. God gives grace to the humble.
Christ came to save what was lost; getting angry at repenting sinners exposed a wrong heart. The parables in Luke 15 illustrate this further. There are three parables, yet they drive home one main point. Something was lost, then it was found and the right response is to celebrate. Not doing so, exposes a wrong heart. A sheep was lost, then found and people celebrated (Luke 15:3-6). The same happened with a coin (vv 8-9). In both incidents, Christ tells of the joy in heaven over a repenting sinner (vv 7, 10). Note, His audience was made up of two groups: the sinners and the religious people; hence the third parable speaking of a father who had two sons. One son wasted his inheritance, yet returned to the merciful father in repentance and was forgiven and accepted. The older brother refused to celebrate and got angry at the father's forgiveness and generosity (vv 11-32), which exposed his wrong heart. Every sinner will get a chance to change his or her ways. Not rejoicing in it when they do so, is wrong. God is loving and forgiving; that is His heart Jesus came to reveal. He even died to carry our sorrows and sins in order to extend forgiveness to sinners through God's mercy. He came to bring the straying sheep back to God the Shepherd. This is the love of God.
and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
1 Peter 2:24-25
The evangelist Matthew himself had been a tax collector and was shown mercy (Matthew 9:9-10). He gave 'a great feast' when Jesus visited him; and many others like him were present (Luke 5:27-9). In their culture at the time, as in many cultures today, inviting someone and eating together is an expression of honour and sign of acceptance. Matthew 'left all' and became a disciple of Jesus. A life changed; a soul saved. God gives grace to the humble. Tax collectors were despised, not only for the abuse of their position and the fraud and extortion associated with it, but also because they gathered taxes of their countrymen (Jews) for the occupying force (the Romans). They were, therefore, considered traitors. Hence, when Jesus sought to illustrate the difference between two types of people in the culture and religion at the time, He chose two men at either end of the spectrum: the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:10). The former group was among the most religious people, the latter among the worst sinners. The parable illustrated what was going on and explains why Jesus was so merciful to the repenting sinners yet so tough on the religious groups. There was something wrong with the way they practiced their religion. Not only did they trust in themselves to be righteous (v 9), they also boasted about their deeds while despising others with contempt (vv 11-12). That was arrogant and proud, the very attitude that is repulsive to God. God gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). Pride, arrogance and evil way is the opposite of the fear of God (Proverbs 8:13). The sinner, on the other hand, was humble, repented and showed a different kind of heart (Luke 18:13). Jesus' verdict on these two men that the religious one was not justified, but the sinner was, would have driven home the point strongly. The heart matters most of all before God. Religious performance with an arrogant heart is simply unacceptable. It brings religion in disrepute.
In other incidents Jesus made that point very clear. Matthew, as mentioned above, was called and shown mercy, yet the religious groups complained about it (Matthew 9:9-11). Jesus' response was twofold (vv 12-13): firstly, the sick need a physician and He came to call sinners to repentance. It's perfectly legitimate to give people a chance in life, in this case, by offering repenting sinners God's forgiveness. Secondly, those complaining about this, should 'go and learn' what God had long ago spoken through a prophet: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice' (Hosea 6:6). The context there was people who did religious activities without a proper heart attitude, demonstrated by refusing to listen to the prophets God had sent to bring them back to the right path, knowing full well, that for God a genuine heart is more important than religious rituals. A lack of knowledge based on God's word leads to destruction (Hosea 4:6). To God, 'justice and mercy and faith' are the weightier matters (Matthew 23:23; see Q8). True knowledge of God is necessary for proper religious application; an honourable heart is vital for pure worship. How wrong it is to treat a repenting sinner with contempt and have an arrogant attitude, was further illustrated by Jesus when He forgave a sinful woman who wiped His feet with her hair with tears of repentance (Luke 7:36-50). Her great sins (great debts) were forgiven. She loved much because she was forgiven much! God rejoices when a sinner repents. Complaining about it is wrong; we should rejoice.
The context reveals something profound. Before this incident, again two groups gathered: the sinners who responded to John's baptism of repentance and the religious group who didn't (Luke 7:29-30). Jesus then compares that generation to children who did the wrong thing at the wrong time due to misunderstanding and misinterpreting the events of their time. Instead of embracing the sent ones from God (John, Jesus) and responding appropriately (repentance, faith), they rejected them and even mocked them (vv 31-34). Yet the fruit of one's repentance is the wisdom revealed by one's works (v 35). People may be very learned, yet if they fail to have a humble heart and be responsible for their deeds before God, things won't go well for them. These words of comparing His generation to children were the same Jesus used when John the Baptist had his doubts (Matthew 11). Jesus was a 'friend of sinners' because of His mercy for them. Yet He was no friend of religious people who were arrogant and merciless in their self-righteousness. Eventually, Jesus was killed because of their envy, yet even that death served as an atonement for forgive repenting sinners.
In the incident of the woman caught in adultery (or at least, that was the unproven accusation), Jesus refused to condemn the sinner, yet called her to a life away from sin: 'go and sin no more' (John 8:11). He didn't want people to be merciless fault-finders, accusers and executioners, but rather realise that we are all imperfect and should not be judgmental (v 7). We should be merciful as we are all in need of mercy. Those who don't show mercy will be judged without mercy (James 2:13). He didn't justify her sin; He gave a her a second chance in life, a life pleasing to God apart from sin.
Seeing the spec (i.e., small fault) in someone else's eye while not seeing the beam (i.e., big fault) in our own makes us hypocrites (Matthew 7:3-5). We should be aware that the judgment we apply to others is the judgment that will be applied to us (v 2), so we better not judge at all (v 1). We can, however, help others out of their sin, after we have dealt with our own sin (v 5). Presumably, after we have dealt with our own sin, we won't be judgement towards others, but in humility correct others to help them find the right way in life (cf., 2 Timothy 2:25). Acknowledging one's sin is the way to receive mercy; covering up sin won't work (Proverbs 28:13). Repentance means to change one's life by confession and turning away from sin.
The grace of God not only gives us salvation by forgiveness through Christ, it also empowers us to live a life pleasing to God (Titus 2:11-14; cf., Ephesians 2:8-10). The man who wrote these words was Paul of Tarsus. He himself was part of condemning a man to death by stoning (Acts 7) and arresting those who followed 'the Way' of Jesus (22:19-20). Although he had been a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man,' yet God showed him mercy (1 Timothy 1:13) and he became a 'pattern' and testimony of God's long-suffering and goodwill towards those who repent; Christ came to save sinners (vv 15-17). God's grace toward Paul was not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Having said all this, it would be wrong to assume that Jesus was indifferent to sin or that He approved of it—He didn't! He was clear about what sin is and what the consequences are, yet His mission was to save people lost in sin, not to condemn sinners for it (John 3:16-17). Jesus was merciful to sinners when they repented and showed humility before God. That was the way to receiving the kingdom of God. He had strong words for those who refused to repent (Luke 13:1-5; Matthew 11:20-24) and even stronger words for those who were arrogant and merciful yet hypocritical in their heart (Matthew 23). Christ showing mercy to sinners was not a twisted morality; it was showing God's mercy to sinners and God's way to be merciful to those who were self-righteous in their religious practice gone wrong because of pride. We were instructed by Micah to love justice, love kindess and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). There is no place for arrogant judgmental condemnation. Love is the way of God.
Conclusion
Jesus was so merciful to repenting sinners because humility is the way to receive grace and God’s kingdom. God gives grace to the humble, yet He resists the proud. Pride is the main reason people refuse to repent or even acknowledge their sin; humility is the way to God’s blessings. Jesus was so merciful to repenting sinners because the kingdom of God for those who receive it with humility, which is a reflection of God’s heart, nature and will. The tough approach towards the religious groups was because of their arrogant attitude of a hardened heart, especially towards repenting sinners and towards Jesus who made God’s grace available, and because their religious practice with such a judgmental attitude made it hypocritical.