Christ Came to Save Sinners

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This is Day 36 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

"It is not the well that need a doctor, but the sick," Jesus told the Pharisees who complained about Him dining with sinners. He further expounded that He did not come to save the righteous, but to save sinners. The righteous, after all, would have no need for a savior.

Of course, we all fall short of righteousness. We are all sinners, myself most definitely included. But do we refuse to accept that we are sinners and believe, as those Pharisees did, that we are actually righteous and deserving of Heaven?

Christ will only save those who will admit they need saving and come to Him. But Christ will not allow you to remain a sinner. That is one of the great mistakes people make. "Christ came to save sinners, so I can keep on sinning and Christ will save me," some will assert. That's not how it works.

One good example of the proper way to respond to Christ's invitation for salvation is as the tax collector Zacchaeus did. Zacchaeus was not a good man. He used his power as tax collector to rob from others. But he went looking for Jesus. A man short in stature, he was forced to climb a tree, a humiliating thing for a grown man to do, to see Jesus as the savior walked by. Jesus noticed Zacchaeus looking for Him and told the sinful tax collector to come down out of the tree, because Jesus was going to his house to eat.

Zacchaeus immediately accepted Christ into his home. When Jesus asks us if He can come in, we should always say "yes." That's the first step. Had Zacchaeus refused, he would have never been saved. And Zacchaeus was so moved that Jesus was willing to accept him, that the sinful tax collector completely changed his ways. Not only did he promise to stop stealing from people, he promised to return all of the money he had stolen, and to give away half of all he possessed to help those in need. Zacchaeus didn't just eat with Jesus and say, "well, I'm saved now, and I'll go on living my sinful life." No, he changed in response to Jesus' call.

Another great example of this is the Sinful Woman from Luke chapter 7. Jesus was dining at the home of a Pharisee named Simon, when a very sinful woman came and crawled at His feet while He ate, weeping over His feet and drying them with her hair. She then anointed His feet with an extremely expensive oil.

When the Pharisee Simon saw this he thought to himself, "If Jesus knew what kind of a sinful woman this was he wouldn't let her touch him." Jesus knew Simon's thoughts and asked the Pharisee, "who would love a creditor more, a debtor forgive a small debt, or a debtor forgiven a large debt." Simon correctly answered the debtor who was forgiven a large debt.

Jesus showed Simon the woman at His feet. "When I came in you did not give me any water to wash my feet, but this woman washed them with her tears. You did not greet me with a kiss, but from the minute she came in this woman has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman anointed my feet. She has a great many sins, but I tell you, they have been forgiven."

The woman was very sinful, but didn't just say, "Jesus loves me, I can keep on sinning, because He came to save sinners." No, she crawled on her hands and knees, humiliating herself in front of everyone. She kissed His feet and cleaned them with her hair. And she gave up a lot of money by anointing His feet with the very expensive oil. She was willing to go to great lengths for Jesus because she loved Him and appreciated all He was doing for her.

Jesus came to save sinners, but He didn't die on the cross after being tortured and beaten so that we would just keep right on sinning. He expects us to change, to humble ourselves, to do as He told us, to love God and our neighbors, and to stop sinning. And when we do fall, to be contrite of heart, feel bad for our sins and ask His forgiveness. Yes, Jesus came to save sinners, because we are all sinners. But the only sinners who are going to be saved, are those who love Him and appreciate what He did for them, and change for Him.

Next: Christ's Mercy

R.C. VanLandingham is a Catholic homeschool dad just trying to make it through this life and into the next! He has written a Christian children's fantasy series about a boy named Peter Puckett!