Jesus didn't change everyone

Fairly regularly I see people share the idea that Jesus was around "bad people" or people who did bad things BUT that he didn't leave them unchanged, like ever.

So the picture is, quite literally at times, Jesus saunters down a street where there are a bunch of drunk people, prostitutes, tax collectors, and other "bad guys" your parents warned you about.

As Jesus wanders through, maybe he has a sit down meal and a few interactions - and then he continues on and suddenly, mysteriously, everyone there decides not to be bad anymore.

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First, that was actually how it was portrayed at times growing up. Second, what an uninformed and completely mistaken picture designed to project our assumptions on scripture.  

No, just no. Read up on the culture and the economy of the first century that existed between the diverse population groups where Jesus walked.  Stop projecting flannel-graph lessons into the Bible.

Realize this is another way that some collections of people who are believers attempt to shape the interactions of other believers they aren't comfortable with.

"Oh, you're hanging out with people who are sinning? Are you having a positive impact on them or are they having a negative impact on you?  You know Jesus hung out with them, but changed them all."

I do get it. It's a kind of pollyannaish way of seeing life. From our old movies or portrayals of Jesus, we learn that people just magically fell under his spell eventually - except for those bad religious leaders.

And it's really not true. Some followed Jesus and some didn't. Just because he said, "Go and sin no more" doesn't mean they did that. Or that we understand the sin he was referring to that he was talking about.

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Did Jesus have a powerful influence over people that were hated or considered to be outcasts?  Sure, he certainly had an impact over some of them.  But not all of them.

So what do we do with that?  I think we ask those who say, "Jesus hung out with sinners but he changed them, he didn't engage in those behaviors or endorse their behaviors" - what's your point with that?

I don't think most of them have any point. I think most of them say that kind of thing to sound good to others. And most of them say that so you'll stop being around people they're uncomfortable with.

I can't speak about all of them, but at least a good collection of "those people" who say those things have pretty much written off whole collections of people as untouchables.  I don't remember Jesus doing that.

I believe that many of them don't realize the sin in their own life and how Jesus hasn't abandoned them in spite of that.  They've just picked favorite sins that are acceptable to them and their circles.

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Think about it, the Pharisees and teachers of the law were pretty big sinners - like way worse than we can imagine - but their sin was different than those "street people" or those dirty people we look down on.

They were more religious than anyone in the country and yet Jesus angered them and they conspired against him and had him killed.

Jesus' presence didn't change their "sinful ways" at all.

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Well, who changed then?  Didn't all the apostles get on-board with Jesus?  Why would you say that it wasn't possible for people to change suddenly after they met Jesus?

I'd say, "read the scriptures" and see what actually happened. Don't just rely on things you've heard. 

Different people changed to different degrees over time and in different areas of their life.

Zaccheaus was a wee little man and a tax collector - he changed a lot - gave back a lot of money he'd taken unethically, stated that big changes were coming from him. We don't know what happened after that moment, at all.

The woman caught in adultery. Jesus saved her from the crowd who were wanting to stone her to death. He told her to go and sin no more.  We don't know what she did. We know what his reaction to her was, not much about her reaction to him.

Even some of the 12 apostles didn't get it right all the time...and for a long time.  Remember Peter turning his back on Jesus.  Remember a few decades later when Paul came through how Peter and James and John (and others?) had to be convinced to be accepting of the idea that God was accepting non-Jews as Jesus' followers?  And we're still not sure they ever did in this life.

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The point of all that is that we want to pressure people into avoiding "sinners" and, if they can't, we want them to pressure the sinners into stopping their sin and to come to church and be good Christians.

Our starting point is how different and wrong people are and if they'll get right with God, he'll love them and bless them and other stuff.

God's starting point is that he loves them, period - end of sentence.  He loves them.  

He invites them to know that and to know they too can walk with him and know him - that it's not just "the good people" who can know him and walk with him.

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Get to know some "sinners". 

Know that God's love for them is as deep as it is for you.

Remember how long it has taken for him to work on you.

Give that same grace - that unseen grace you don't publicly acknowledge.

Trust God's ways and timing.