Let me ask y’all
a question, how did Jesus interact with the people He came across? Now, I know
what you’re thinking, He loved them (duh)! Which is totally and 100% true, but
His love was not a synonym to tolerance.
Jesus associated with
sinners. He walked, talked and dined with sinners. He did not mock them, judge
them, or punish them; instead, He welcomed them with love. One day He stumbled
across a crowd of religious people about to kill a woman because of her
infidelity. And He said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to
throw a stone at her.” After He said this, the crowd slowly began to dissipate
until it was just Jesus and the woman left. Jesus took her by the hand and
basically said that no one condemns her, she is forgiven, and to “go and sin no
more”.
I think our
Christian society has put too much emphasis on Jesus’s display of love to this
woman, instead of His acknowledgement of her sin and forgiving her for it. She deserved
death because of her sin, we all do, but Jesus chose to look down on her, and
us, with love! When Jesus forgives, He says to everyone “go and sin no more”.
And we, as a society, have generally forgotten the latter.
You can love
someone and not conform to their ideals. You should not tolerate someone’s (or
your own) sin, because it is still that, a sin. It is wrong and should be
pointed out, IN LOVE! Jesus is the perfect example of how to act and I think He
is getting portrayed wrongly to everyone.
So, I’ll end this
rant with a challenge- I challenge you to read through the Gospel and to really
get to know Jesus (who He is and how He acts) and start to implement the
qualities of Jesus YOU discover into your everyday life.