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Sydney V • March 21, 2021

Habits of a Good Christian - Pt. 4: Respectfulness

Respectfulness.

Jesus was the biggest role model for being respectful; he treated everyone with the utmost courtesy. In Jesus' time, people were treated according to their status, but Jesus saw people for who they were on the inside and respected people when no one else would. There are countless stories of Jesus breaking the status quo to be with those who had been shunned by society. 

Stories of Jesus Respecting Those Who Weren't Respected:

Matthew 9:9-13; Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32 – This is the story of Jesus calling Matthew the tax collector to be his disciple. We find Jesus reclining at a table with many tax collectors and sinners, “for there were many who followed him” (Mark 2:15). When the scribes and Pharisees grumble about the company he keeps, Jesus tells them that he has “not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32).

Matthew 11:16-19; Luke 7:31-35 – Here Jesus rebukes the “people of this generation” because they rejected John the Baptist for being too tight and reject the Son of Man for being too loose. It’s from this incident that we get the phrase “friend of sinners.” We should note that it was an insult heaped upon Jesus by his enemies. This doesn’t mean Christ didn’t own it and we shouldn’t sing it, but it suggests he may not have owned it in every way. If Jesus was not a “glutton and drunkard” as his opponents thought, so he may not have been “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” in exactly the way they imagined either.

Luke 7:36-50 – Right on the heels of this story comes another one like it in Luke. A sinful woman anoints Jesus with expensive ointment and wipes Jesus’ feet with her tears and the hair of her head. When Jesus is corrected for letting this “sinner” touch him, he reminds Simon that those who are forgiven much, love much. In the end, Jesus forgives the woman her sin and announces, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50).

Luke 15:1-2 – The setting for the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son of Luke 15 is found in the first two verses of that chapter. As the tax collectors and sinners “were all drawing near” to Jesus, the Pharisees and scribes grumbled that Jesus was receiving them to eat with them. The three parables that follow demonstrate how God seeks out the lost (15:3, 8, 20) and how pleased God is when sinners repent (15:7, 10, 21-24).

Luke 19:1-10 – Again, the Jewish leaders grumble because Jesus “has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner” (Luke 19:7). Though Zacchaeus repents and is a changed man (19:8), the Jews simply cannot accept that the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (19:10) and that this notorious tax collector has been saved (19:9).


Why Is This Important? 

This is important because as Christians, it's our job to do what Jesus would do. Jesus didn't care who He was with, His goal was to spread the word of God, and He showed that you didn't have to be of high status to be worthy of His teachings. It's so important that we remember this: we must treat everyone how Jesus would've treated them, with respect. A lot of times, people are uncomfortable with or scared of what they don't understand, and this has caused a lot of people to be treated with disrespect, which is the opposite of what Jesus would want. We are all God's children, and He made us the way we are. Disrespecting a child of God is disrespecting God Himself. Sometimes this is a hard thing to do when we disagree with others, but we have to think about how Jesus would've handled things when we're in those situations. Spreading love and appreciation for each other will only do good.

Romans 12:10 says, "Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor."

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