Jesus Loves sinners

So far in Mark’s gospel we have seen that Jesus is God’s promised King, the long-awaited Messiah.

We have seen that He preached that the kingdom of God was here because He was here, and that people were to repent and believe the good news.

We also saw (at His baptism by John) that Jesus’ rule as King had something to do with the forgiveness of sins.

We have seen something of His authority as King and His priority to keep on preaching the good news of the kingdom.

This morning we are going to focus on the good news that Jesus loves sinners! A love that is demonstrated by Him being willing and able to cleanse and forgive sinners. A love that makes sinners His priority.

When Joshua and Rebecca were very young and I would prayer with them before they went to sleep, their prayers would contain two predictable parts and one unpredictable part.

The two predictable parts were the beginning and the end.

It usually started like this, “Dear Lord Jesus. Thank you for the lovely day. Thank you for my mom and my dad…” then other family members and friends.

Then there would be the middle bit that was unpredictable and could be about all sorts of things…

And then there would be the end which would go something like this, “Lord Jesus please keep us safe and please keep the baddies away. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Baddies. Baddies must be kept away. We must keep away from baddies. Who are these baddies?

Once after a prayer time I posed this to my children… do you know that the Bible says we are all baddies? Only God is truly good, and we are all baddies (we are all sinners). If I remember correctly, they weren’t that keen to be identified as baddies.

Who does? We don’t love baddies. We don’t love sinners. But…

Jesus loves sinners!

Jesus loves baddies. And we see this in three incidents in Mark 1: 40 – 2: 17

In the first incident we see that…

Jesus is willing and able to cleanse a sinner 1: 40 – 45

Leprosy is a terrible disease. It is an infectious bacterial disease that causes severe, disfiguring skin sores and nerve damage all over your skin… particularly the arms and legs which get even more damaged by the environment because of the lack of feeling in them.

Today, antibiotics can kill the bacteria, but they can’t reverse the nerve damage or deformities.

Once you have been diagnosed with leprosy you have to be isolated or put in a leper colony, which still exist today in some places.

It was even worse being a leper in ancient Israel. Once you got leprosy you were declared ceremonially unclean unable to go to the temple or synagogue, unable to go into God’s presence there.

You were completely separated from people, not able to live amongst them, treated as though dead (there was no cure) and you were put in a special place or leper colony usually in the wilderness in caves or tents.

You had to wear special clothes, keep your distance from people, wear bells on you to warn people from coming too close. And if people did come too close you had to shout, “Unclean, unclean!”

It’s no wonder that leprosy in the OT was symbolic of sin… unclean, unrighteous, separated from God, separated from people, death.

Rabbis used to teach that if you had leprosy it was probably because God was punishing you for some sin.

And so, you can understand the desperateness of this leper in breaking all the rules to approach Jesus. But somehow, he knew that Jesus could heal him. Maybe Jesus’ reputation had even got the leper colony? 1: 40 – 42.

• Jesus’ compassion and love (41 – indignant and footnote). Link back to 1: 38 – 39
• Jesus isn’t made unclean by touching the leper, the leper is healed. Jesus has the authority to heal and make the unclean clean. As the man stood there, he was no longer a leper (that’s a true miracle).

That is not normal. But nor is Jesus. He is the King of God’s Kingdom with authority to heal the leper, to cleanse the unclean and return them to normal.

This man would be able to return to his family and hug them, hang out with friends, go to temple and the synagogue.

And then 1: 43 – 44. Don’t tell anyone (explain). Give a testimony to the Priests that you are clean, go through the cleansing ceremony and can get back to normal.

Don’t tell anyone? 1: 45 (unpack).

But given that the OT saw leprosy as symbolic of sin and pointed to the deeper realities of sin... and given that the ceremony for cleansing that this man would have had to go through with the priests would include a ceremony of atonement for sin (Leviticus 14), Jesus healing of this man is pointing to a cleansing that goes beyond cleansing of the physical to cleansing of sin too. That is why Mark includes it here.

Which brings us to the second incident, which shows us that…

Jesus has the authority to forgive a sinner 2: 1 – 12

Jesus (with His four disciples in tow) is quick to get back to His priority of preaching about the kingdom of God and calling people to repent and believe 2: 1 – 2.

But that is not really why they had come. Especially these guys and their paralysed mate 2: 3 – 4.

But Jesus is not that easily side-tracked 2: 5 (hang on a minute…).

And the opposition against what Jesus is saying is immediately there 2: 6 – 7 (Blasphemer, they knew the implications of what Jesus was saying – and some people say that Jesus never said He was God).

And so, Jesus goes about showing that He is King Jesus the Messiah (God in the flesh) with the authority to forgive sins 2: 8 – 12 (Unpack).

• Son of Man – the figure in Daniel 7 who is a human and divine figure who is worshipped by the nations in an eternal kingdom. And that is King Jesus!
• He proves He has authority on earth to forgive sins
• God is praised
• Jesus is also showing us that the forgiveness of sins is a higher priority for Him than healing

Because He loves sinners. Because He can cleanse and forgive sinners, it makes sense (in the third incident) that…

Jesus makes sinners His priority 2: 13 – 17

It was time for Jesus to add to the four disciples He had on mission with Him. He goes back to the side of the lake where He had found His other disciples.

But this time, having just spoken and shown how important the forgiveness of sins is to Him… 2: 13 – 14.

He chooses Levi as His disciple, later know as Matthew. Levi is a tax collector. Tax collectors were hated by the Jewish people.

Although Jewish, they collected taxes on behalf of the occupying Roman Empire. They often exploited their own countrymen. And as a result, they were seen as social and spiritual outcasts … enemies of God and His people.

But God in the flesh, King Jesus, loves sinners. He forgives and cleanses sinners, no matter how bad they are. He makes this tax collector a part of His team (Note that Jesus has authority over even those we classify as the worst of sinners).

But that’s not all. Jesus so loves sinners and is so determined to make sinners His priority that He goes for dinner at Levi’s house to spend time with him and even more tax collectors. This freaks out the religious Pharisees 2: 15 – 16. (Compromiser)

• Tax collectors were seen as such bad sinners that they couldn’t simply be called sinner – “Tax collectors and sinners”
• But note, sinners and tax collectors were interested in what He had to say
• Pharisees believed Jesus should have known better

But Jesus explains that sinners are His priority, at least those who acknowledge they are sinners 2: 17. All are but some think they are righteous – self-righteous.

What good news this passage is… Jesus loves sinners! Which means…

Jesus loves you!

No matter who you are, no matter what you think of yourself, you are a sinner. You were conceived a sinner.

And your sin has made you unclean, unrighteous. Your sin has separated you from a righteous God and you are unable to be in His presence. Which in eternity after death means terrible eternal things.

But Jesus loves you. You are His priority. No matter what you have done. No matter what others think of you. He is doing all sorts of things to make sure you get to know Him.

He is willing and able to forgive you your sins, cleanse you of unrighteousness and bring you back into a relationship with God.

Will you respond to Him calling you to follow Him?

He is calling out to you today!

Those of you who have walked with Jesus for some time now…

Does it still amaze you that Jesus loves you? That He chose to make you His priority?

Does it still fill you with deep gratitude that He would forgive you your sin, cleanse you from unrighteousness remove all condemnation from you and bring you into a special relationship with God?

Or has life sucked the amazement and gratitude out of you? Life can do that. There is no judgement at all from me if you are in that space.

But I want you to know:

• That Jesus still loves you, whether you feel it or not. In the good times and the bad.
• You are still His priority. His Spirit and angels are making sure that you will persevere right to the end.
• He is still working everything out for your good whether any of it makes sense to you or not.
• You can still come to Him for ongoing forgiveness and cleansing.
• He is preparing a place in heaven for you to be with Him.

And then can I encourage all of us in this… sinners are still His priority, He still loves them. They need to be our priority and we need to love them. How? By helping them to see Jesus’ love for them. The gospel.

Communion prep:

• Repent and believe. He will forgive and cleanse you
• Remember His amazing love for you and commitment to you. Repent and believe that He chooses to show that love and commitment to other sinners through you with the gospel and live like that is true.

Questions:

1. How does Jesus show that He loves sinners in Mark 1: 40 – 2: 17?
2. Why should that fill us with wonder and deep gratitude to Jesus?
3. How should that affect the way we view and interact with sinners around us?
4. How could we as a Home Group show that sinners are our priority as they were a priority for Jesus?