I want to party with Jesus

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say,

‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard,

a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’

Matthew 11v19

I don’t want to be a glutton or a drunkard.  I want to live my life so that I am accused of being a drunkard and a glutton while doing the will of God.  What was Jesus doing that he was accused of being a drunkard? Did he attend parties and enjoying himself? Was he so full of the Spirit that people thought he was drunk? Did he live his life with so much joy that people talked? Did he sing psalms with abandon?

The Bible says Jesus was a man of sorrows. But why would he be accused of gluttony and drunkenness? Perhaps it was merely an accusation to insult him. Though he did eat and drink it is doubtful that it was in excess. More likely his mercy and compassion were his excesses.  

This was early in his ministry before he fed the 5000 or the 4000. It was a time after he expanded on the Beatitudes and gave many parables on living in the kingdom. He proclaimed God’s love in a way few understood. Yet thousand would follow him to hear his strange message of love and healing.

How do I live my life to be accused as Jesus. Surely it was painful to be rejected and accused. It is not something to seek. Rather seek after the mercy and compassion which Jesus exemplified. Seek after feeding the poor, healing the sick, and clothing the naked. Always remember my reward is in heaven not here on earth.

Jesus was friends with tax collectors. But there are no tax collectors in my society. There are people outside the church. People judge harshly by society. People rejected by Christians as unclean in the modern world. Drug addicts, drunks, homosexuals, prison inmates, and the homeless. Aren’t these people the lepers of today’s church. How do I befriend them in Christian love. Show them the love of God to a point that they find God irresistible.

I will need to go outside my usual church contacts. I would need to talk to the unchurched. Visit homeless shelters, prisons, drug recovery centers. Go on mission trips in other cities or other countries. Look for the places lacking God’s love and go there to share what I know. It is risky business sharing the love of God with the unchurched. Perhaps that is why Jesus was rejected and accused by the religious people of his day. He dared to share God’s love with the outcast rather than focusing only on the religious.

Dear Lord let me understand how to dance the way Jesus dances, to befriend people the way Jesus befriends people.  Let me befriend the unchurched. Fill my soul with love for those you love. Let me feed the hungry, heal the sick, and clothed the naked.