Jesus was a drunkard and a glutton.
Most people during Jesus’s day would have heard this rumour, among others, as a way to describe Jesus. Scripture reveals that Jesus chose the least of favourable places to spend his time. In Luke 7:34 we read, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”‘(NIV)
What was it about Jesus that attracted the outcasts, the sceptics, the sinners? Jesus demonstrated a secret ministry weapon available to us all: Personal attention to people.
Think about the stories in the gospel accounts. They all reflect the personal attention and focus He had with individuals.
Jesus healed one or two people at a time and even sought out a healed man as follow-up (John 9:35). Jesus singles out Zacchaeus in the tree and commands Peter to “tend my lambs” (John 21:15).
In my work discipling young adults with the Navigators of Canada at the University of Calgary I come across my fair share of sceptical students. They assume that I speak out of obligation rather than with any sense of integrity. They presuppose that I want to talk to them about “the church”; to introduce rules and regulations; to take a heavy stance on sensitive issues such as abortion.
What I actually want to do is help them think about the life of Jesus—His teaching, death, and resurrection. I want them to see the profound positive effect Christ has on my life and could have on their lives.
One student in particular is Mike (name changed), who I came in contact with through an intramural hockey team. When I told him my profession he instantly changed his behaviour, becoming reserved when we talked about events in our lives. When I asked him if he ever heard about Jesus his response was, “I try to stay away from that religious stuff.” I agreed and told him that Jesus came to earth to end religion. That perked his interest but his issue was deeper. Mike is a good-looking, affluent, and successful person. In other words, he saw no relevance in religion or in Jesus. As much as I wanted to give up, God kept pushing me to focus on Mike and continue to love him. I knew that there were two important thresholds Mike would have to cross to move toward Jesus. He would have to trust me and he would have to move from apathy about Jesus to curiosity.
Through countless weeks of playing hockey, Mike began to ‘loosen’ up his demeanor towards me and actually invited me out with the team to the campus pub. I knew he was beginning to trust me and so one day I got the courage to invite him to an investigative Bible study of the ‘hard-sayings’ of Jesus at the campus pub. This was a weekly Bible study intended for believer and non-believer alike.
That particular week we were studying John 6: 53, which was a hard teaching in Jesus’s day. (So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.) After the study Mike took me aside and asked me, “Was Jesus a cannibal?” An incredible sense of joy overtook me and I thought, “I have piqued his curiosity.” I told him that Jesus was very radical in His teaching and asked him if he would like to join me in a gospel account studying Jesus. He said ‘yes.’
I am still meeting and studying with Mike and I am happy to report he has come a long way toward receiving Christ. Long ago when I was a new Christian I would have considered this progress to be disappointing. Mike would have been a project and I would have had an agenda for his conversion. Today, I want to plead with you not to look at the outcasts, the sceptics, or the sinners as a chance to collect ‘convert’ points. That approach comes across as fake, not authentic. We need to come alongside people, focus on their needs, love them, and serve them. Once they see we care genuinely, once they see we have words of life, then they may take an interest in spiritual growth.
Can you make a difference? Why not ask God to enable you to share your life with one person or several? If Jesus chose, deliberately, to be a friend to the sick, the sinner, and the sceptic then we need to realize He is not calling us to something he Himself has not done.
