In order for someone to find freedom in Christ, that individual must recognize and acknowledge the sin in his/her life. Unrepented sin gives the enemy legal access to our lives because in those areas that we have roped off for ourselves and our flesh, we are in agreement with Satan.
To help people find their freedom in Christ we must learn how to help people deal with the sin that is usually so apparent to others but not always apparent to them. In addition, we must do so in love. In everything we do, we must follow the lead of the Savior of all men and the one who has shown us the heart of the Father. As we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, however, we find two or three general responses to sin and at times they seem to be quite contradictory.
Most of us love the response of Jesus to the sins of the woman at the well (Jn.4:1-26) and the woman taken in adultery (Jn.8: 1-11). In both of those settings Jesus encounters women whose lives have been marked with sin. The Samaritan woman of John 4 seems to have had a reputation in her village that had gained her the status of outcast. She had lived with a number of husbands and was simply living with her latest lover. According to John, Jesus was resting at the well about noon when the woman showed up to draw water. Traditionally the women of the village would have come to the well in the cool of the morning and the evening rather than in the heat of the day. Perhaps, she came at noon to avoid the other women of the village. The woman described in John 8 was a woman caught in the very act of adultery who doesn’t bother to argue her innocence even when her life is on the line.
In both cases the gentleness and mercy of Jesus is almost overwhelming. In both cases Jesus acknowledges the sin in the lives of each woman but almost in passing. Instead he emphasizes the grace and forgiving nature of God. He points them to a better life but in no way shames them or condemns them as they go on their way. That is the Jesus most of us love and are comfortable with – the Jesus who says little about sin but just points people to the grace of God.
But in his gospel, John describes another moment when Jesus heals a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years. This man had spent his days begging at the pool of Bethesda. In a moment of compassion, Jesus saw the man and healed him. It is such a quick moment that the man doesn’t even discover who has healed him. But John tells us that later in the day, Jesus found the man in the temple area and privately warned him to “stop sinning or something worse may happen to you” (Jn.5:14). In this case Jesus gives a private rebuke to a sinful man so that he might find eternal life and not lose the healing he had received for “the kindness of God calls us to repentance” (Rom.2:4).
Finally, we are all aware of the sharp confrontations Jesus had with the Pharisees. With these men he was not gentle nor did he give a private rebuke. He scolded them in public and called them sons of Satan (Jn.8:44), a brood of vipers (Mt.12), blind guides (Mt.23) and more.
So how do we reconcile these encounters if we are to do all things in love? If Jesus came to seek and to save the lost why is he gentle with some and scathing with others? I believe that the common ground of each encounter was the redemptive motive of Jesus. His goal for all three types of sinner was redemption and that goal was motivated by love. Remember, we are called to love even those we don’t like.
To the women, Jesus took on a priestly role of dispensing hope, gentleness, grace and forgiveness. These women were quite aware of their sins and already carried their own burden of shame for the lives they had been leading. Jesus had no need to convince them of their sinfulness. He needed to convince them that the great and holy God of Israel was willing to forgive and embrace them despite their sinful past.
That was the message they needed to hear. To the lame man Jesus seemed to take a middle ground of demonstrating God’s mercy but then confronting his sin in a personal way so not to humiliate the man. In a sense, this man needed to be reminded that God’s mercy was not released into his life so that he could continue to be the man that he was before he was healed. He needed to be reminded that the grace of God call us to a different life. In that case, Christ took a position somewhere between priest and prophet and brought grace with a word of warning.
When facing the Pharisees who trusted in their own righteousness and who were blinded to their sins by a spiritual arrogance, Jesus came in the spirit of the prophets with a get-in-your face rebuke and a call to repentance. Though it was harsh it was still an attempt to redeem these men.
So in helping men and women deal with their sins there are times to be very priestly, times to be very prophetic, and times to stand somewhere in between. For many, it will be very apparent which approach to take in order to help them find freedom. For others it will take a clear leading of the Spirit. One approach will easily fit our temperament while the other will be very foreign to us but discernment and flexibility is key. Jesus did not love some and hate others. He simply knew which approach was most redemptive in the moment – not only to the one he was dealing with but to the ones who were watching.
However, we do it, we must help people discern and acknowledge their sin and their brokenness if they are to be healed and set free. Think about what is most needed and the spirit in which it must be ministered the next time God puts someone in your life that needs the grace and the healing touch of Jesus and may the Lord bless you today.
