For many years, I hung on to one of those well-worn sayings that is not in the Bible…. “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” I always thought that made a lot of sense because Jesus certainly loved sinners and as Methodists we proclaim loudly that all people are persons of sacred worth. I mean, God hates sin (no argument there) but if everyone has sacred worth then of course we should love them despite their many sins.
If you read the Gospels Jesus never says, “love the sinners” but he does say, “Love your neighbor.” Is there a difference? I believe so.
As an illustration, let’s look at Luke 7:36-48, the story of a dinner Jesus attends at the home of Simon the Pharisee. Jesus and other men are seated around the table when a woman comes to the home. The scripture says she is a “sinner.” Some scholars say she may have been the village prostitute. Luke says she knelt by Jesus and wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. She kissed his feet while applying an expensive ointment to his feet as well.
While all this is happening, Simon, the Pharisee is coming unglued. How dare this women, a sinner, come into his dinner party and make a spectacle over the guest of honor. Jesus can see that Simon is disturbed by her actions. So, he says to him, “When I entered your home you did not wash my feet,” as was the custom in the middle east. “You did not greet me with a kiss or anoint my head with oil.” But Jesus says to Simon, “Do you see this woman?” She has washed my feet with her tears, kissed them and anointed them with oil.”
Perhaps the most important statement in this passage is when Jesus says, “Simon, do you see this woman?” Jesus looks at her and sees a human being of sacred worth. All Simon sees is a sinner, a used-up woman who is nothing more than the local prostitute. When we look at people and all we see is a sinner, we’ve already assigned them a place lower than us. We see them differently. We don’t see them as people. We just see their sin.
Do you struggle with the same problem I do? I can see other people’s sins very easily but I don’t notice mine as readily. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount? “Why do you see the speck that is in your neighbor’s eye but do not see the log that is in your own eye?” We need to see with new eyes…paying more attention to our flaws and seeing others as more than sinners. Perhaps a better way to express the idea of loving others while dealing with sin is to say, “Love your neighbor despite the fact you’re a sinner.”
Rev. Dave Poteet, Pastor of Congregational Care
