Do we treat sinners differently than saints?

As a little girl, I constantly saw my mother interacting with the weak and needy people of this world. From the homeless man begging on the side of the street to the woman who needed food for her dog, if my mother saw a need, she provided it. To this day, she still does.

Now, as a 20-something who has no idea what she does for a living, I find myself drawn to these people. And though fear often tries to hold me back, it's the look in their eyes that penetrates my soul. Because even if they don't really need help or are just a trickster, I hear Jesus say: everything you've done for the least of them, you have done for me.

“And the king shall answer them, and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did unto one of these least of my brethren, it is unto me that ye do it. 'have done' (Matthew 25:40, KJV).

Sacred or profane?

In Luke 15, beginning with verse 1, Jesus tells a similar story.

While Jesus is busy dining with sinners and the least of them, the Pharisees and religious scholars at the table are in dismay. How could a trulyreligious man find himself at the feet of those who were dirty from within? How could a true king place himself in such a place of dishonor? How would a man claiming to heal and take away sins in His perfection associate with those who are far from pure?

But instead of focusing on the Miracle Maker in front of them, they were too preoccupied with preconceived notions and ideals. Reflections on how Jesus should act or how they expected His behaviors to manifest. While they were upset that Jesus associated with sinners, eating with them (dining) and having them in his presence, they should have been concerned about the state of their ignorant and sinful hearts.

Love or Judgment?

If they really cared about what religious law stood for and instituted, the Pharisees and religious scholars would have chosen loveover judgment. They would have chosen acceptanceover pre-justified business. They would have seen Jesus as he wasrather than who they had predicted and wished him to be.

Then as now, God calls us to love Him and others. This is why people say that saving grace and the mantra of the Bible can be summed up in these two principles:

""Master, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is similar: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 'All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:36-40, NIV).

Yet those who believed themselves to be righteous (like the Pharisees and religious leaders) were actually the worst of all sinners. They were the ones who needed it the most and didn't realize it. They were the ones who needed to humble themselves but preferred to blame everyone else. They were the first to blame when the blame should have been on themselves.

They were, as Paul writes, "the worst of all sinners" without even realizing it.

"The word is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first" (1 Timothy 1:15, ESV).

Lost or found?

To illustrate this point to those who are considered "religious," Jesus used the parable of the lost sheep. Although we all know the story, the message is simple. If a shepherd has lost a sheep when he has a hundred, he will look for it. And when he finds her and brings her home, there is more joy for that lost sheep than for the ninety-nine already home.

The same goes for us. We are the sheep. Jesus is the shepherd. If we stray and are found, what joy is there in Heaven? We were lost, but now we are found. We were sinners, and now we are saved. We were miserable, and now we are redeemed.

But the most beautiful part of this story is not that we are sinners who have repented and been saved, although this is great news that brings even more joy. It is the fact that He, Jesus Christ, leaves the other ninety-nine to seek the lost until He finds him.

"Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Doesn't he let...