Why Jesus Hung Out with Sinners and What It Means for Us Today

What It Means That Jesus “Hung Out” with Sinners

Who do you hang out with and why? Most of us hang out with people who have similar interests or lifestyles as we do. We often hear people say that Jesus "hung out" with sinners. Did He? The answer is yes, but to what end? Was He hanging out with people to show approval of their lifestyle or was He with them to show them a better way? Jesus associated with sinners, not to justify their choices but to call them to repentance, to call them to change.

Religion Without Heart: The Pharisee’s Mistake

Jesus harshly criticized the super religious of His day because practicing their religion had become more important than changing their heart. They judged others by one rule - did you practice your faith to the letter. If you did not they considered you "less than". But their faith was a list of do's and don'ts, not a heart of love for God.

We see this clearly in Luke 18:9-14 and the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. One humbles himself before God, the tax collector, and goes home justified, while the other approaches God as if he is without sin, bragging about his own righteousness. The Pharisee was blind to His need for repentance and forgiveness. Many times God had told them He preferred a humble and repentant heart, not just one that looks good on the outside.

Jesus Knew Who Needed Healing and Forgiveness

Sinners: prostitutes, tax collectors, and others, were often more aware of their need for repentance and change than the religious leaders around them. They knew their choices had caused them grief, pain, and loss. Jesus was keenly aware of who desired spiritual healing and who did not. It was to those who knew they needed forgiveness that He went, not to those who thought they were already perfect.

Each time Jesus encountered the sinners of His day He did so with love. He approached each of them as if they had true value as a human being. These people were cared for and Jesus offered them a way back to reconciliation with the Father they had abandoned.

Encounters That Transformed Lives

"Go and sin no more," He told the adulterous woman in John 8:11. He didn't hang out and listen to her woes about loving too many men. He didn't commiserate with her sin. He called her to leave her sin, to repent of it, and turn to God.

In John 4, when He hung out with the Samaritan woman at the well, it was to witness to her about the transformation that knowing Him would bring. He called out the fact that she had had numerous husbands and the one she was with now was not her husband, but He did so with compassion. Her testimony caused other Samaritans to recognize who Jesus was, thus showing her change of heart (John 4:39-42). In these encounters, the adulterous woman and the Samaritan woman at the well, we see a pattern: Jesus offered forgiveness to those who recognized their deep need for it.

Forgiveness and the Awareness of Sin

Most comforting, in my view, is His statement that, "Those who are forgiven much, love much" (Luke 7:47). When Jesus calls us out of the depths of sin and failure, we are so grateful, so aware of our lack of worthiness, that love for Him is our natural response. What the religious men of His generation did not realize is that they also were great sinners. Do we realize today our need for His forgiveness and relationship?

The hardest people to reach for Christ are those who feel they have no need for Him. Their lives are going well. They are respected in their community and by their peers. They are often good people, even kind and generous people. They believe that God exists and because of their goodness believe that He will welcome them into Heaven. Sadly, that is not true because nothing they can do will make them good enough to enter Heaven without the saving blood of Jesus.

Salvation Offered to All Nations

Jesus’ outreach to sinners also revealed another important truth: His mission extended beyond Israel. Jesus came not just to the Jews but to the world. He offered salvation to Samaritans and to gentiles (Matthew 8:28-34; 15:21-28; and 28:19). Those gentiles who came to him in faith were accepted.

The best example is the centurion whom Jesus said had "great faith." The centurion told Jesus he was not worthy that Jesus should come under his roof but all Jesus had to do was to "say the word" and his "servant would be healed" (Luke 7:5-9). Jesus called all people to repentance and faith. How should we follow His example today in relation to people still living in sin?

Should Christians Hang Out with Sinners Today?

So should we hang out with sinners today? There are two things to remember: when someone is contagious we don't normally go around them. But who does? The doctor! This is exactly what Jesus referred to Himself as. He could heal their souls from sin, while you and I cannot, but we can point them to the One who can.

The entire purpose of Jesus' ministry can be seen in Luke 19:10 where He says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” When Jesus ate with sinners the focus was not on socializing and having a good time, although that did happen, but on redeeming the lost. In His own words He explains in Mark 2:16-17 why He chose to eat with sinners, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

The compassion Jesus showed to sinners was exemplified by the fact that he was called "a friend of sinners" (Matthew 11:19). This was meant by the religious leaders as an insult; scandalized as they were by His association with them which broke religious rules. But we know that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). He loved us in the midst of our sin. He did not love our sin. We should do the same.

If your deeply religious, but spiritually immature, daughter started hanging out with gang members and drug addicts you probably would advise her not to. There is a valid reason for this. We know from our own experiences as adults how easily a young person can be influenced.

However, a mature believer who volunteers at a recovery ministry or befriends someone struggling with addiction, for example, while maintaining clear boundaries and spiritual accountability, is following Christ's example. Jesus would have us pray with discernment about who we spend time with. How will God use you? What is our goal? Our spiritual maturity plays an important part in this.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:33, "Bad company corrupts good character." In the context of this verse he was talking about listening and being influenced by false teachers in the church, but the lesson also applies to other types of "bad company." Perhaps we should ask ourselves, why? Why am I desiring to hang out with bad company? Is it to point people to Jesus who heals our souls or is to be considered one of the gang and be accepted?

Secondly, in many places the Bible warns us not to hang around foolish or evil people. Proverbs 13:20 explains that "the companion of fools will suffer harm." Psalm 1:1 tells us that we are blessed when we do not walk in the counsel of the wicked or ungodly. Psalm 26:4-5 the righteous are warned not to fellowship with the wicked.

This doesn't mean we never speak the gospel to these people. Always pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit as to who we should witness to and where. But as the religious leaders of His day watched our Savior eating with sinners, they most likely felt vindicated, when later He was executed as a criminal. By eating with sinners they thought He was spiritually unclean and that He approved of their sin. His death on the cross was, in their eyes a just punishment.

The answer to whether we should hang out with sinners is simply, no, if by hanging out we mean spending time engaging in worldly things with no intent to present the reconciliation of Jesus. We don't live lives as Christians that are separated from the lost, obviously. However, it is unwise to believe that we should be able to party with people, for example, who are living a sinful lifestyle and not be influenced by it. This is especially true for those new to the faith who lack spiritual maturity.

When we develop relationships, like true friendships, with people who aren't Christians and show them we really do love them, that is when we are most likely to be able to share Christ with them. We don't talk about Jesus and our transformed lives as if we are better than they are. We share the fact that Jesus loved us and them so much that He died for us so we could live with God forever as His children.

Our love for them is not a love that approves sinful behavior but a love that calls for repentance and change. We are called to the Great Commission which is to bring God's forgiveness through His Son to the world. We are called to make known His deeds. But it must be done with wisdom and discernment.

“Our love for others should never excuse sin, but it should always point them to the Savior.”

Our lives, lived in Christ, should be an example to those who don't know Christ. When we have an opportunity to witness in words we should take it, but we always need to remember that Christ is the healer and the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts. Our lives alone often speak volumes to people. We have a purpose on this earth and that is to be the salt and light the world desperately needs.

Living as Salt and Light in a Dark World

As Christians, even though we don't engage in the practices of the world, we are salt and light in the world (Matthew 5:13-16). Our presence shows Christ to those who are still in the world. We shine a light on the sin in the world and as salt we affect those around us, just as salt preserves food and enhances its flavor. Our lives are never meaningless in Christ.

Our duty is to walk humbly before the lost and show them love. Let them see what an obedient life in Christ looks like. We don't have to hang out with them by compromising our convictions or hiding the call of the Gospel to repentance. We shouldn't engage in or approve of someone else's sin, but neither should we avoid opportunities to witness to them.

When we follow in the footsteps of Jesus (1 Peter 2:21) we must do so prayerfully and carefully. By separating ourselves from the world in our actions we probably won't be very popular. We may even be persecuted. But we will be obedient and faithful to our Lord by witnessing to unbelievers. That is the most important of all.