The Son of Man

Matt. 11:18 ¶ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’  Matt. 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

So this is a passage that really stands out to me.  Let me set up the context before fully jumping in...John the Baptist had been thrown into jail and so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he really was the Messiah.  Jesus sent them back to tell John about all they had seen Jesus do and decide for themselves.  After that Jesus turned to the crowds around him and rebuked them for rejecting John as well as calling himself a drunkard and a glutton.  This is what intrigues me.  

In order to be considered a glutton and a drunkard, one would have to spend time eating and drinking.  You would never call someone a drunk who never drank a drop of booze, so Jesus was definitely associating with drunks.  This is something that really stands out to me.  Jesus didn't come to teach the religious people, he came to reach out to those hurting.  He came to redeem humanity and he spent a lot of time with those society considered to be sinners.


I wonder how people who abstain because it's "sinful" deal with this passage?  How do you reconcile Jesus associating and drinking with "sinners" to mean he fully abstained?  You can't.  Drink or don't drink, that's not the issue.  The issue is that Jesus understood what it meant to reach out to humanity and to be real with them.  He met people on a common ground and then shared an eternally changing message with them.  Alcohol isn't the only way to find that common ground.  Neither is it the only way to share the Gospel message with someone.  However, Christians need to be careful that they aren't letting their 'holiness' get in the way of meeting people in the trenches to share life with them.  

This is something that I believe as disciples of Jesus we need to do a better job of. This is actually a reason I enjoy brewing beer.  I hope that by making, sharing, and discussing brews with people, I can share something of even greater importance.  I've found that people are a lot more likely to discuss God over a pint.  I don't know if the alcohol opens them up or if it beer just makes people more comfortable, but there's something about a pint and theology that just go good together.  

So brew some good beer and invite people over to share Jesus with them.  Could be the best thing you ever do for them.