So many people around me find Facebook engaging and a great way to keep in touch with people. (Maybe too much!) I'm not a huge fan. Though there is a lot of value in what Facebook's brand of social media can do for us, to keep up with that many friends is overwhelming to me.
But that's just it isn't it: friends on Facebook tend to be a different kind of friend. We call some of those relationships "Facebook friends" to distinguish from other kinds of friends. Maybe "acquaintances" would be better or even "connections."
Jesus has heard what people have said about him. He has heard the side-conversations of the religious leaders who do not hide their distrust of his choice of dinner companions. He has seen the skepticism (revulsion?) on their faces as he walks into the homes of the traitorous tax collectors or the degenerate sinners. Jesus is not unaware of what his friendships communicate to those who don't yet understand his heart.
They call Jesus a "friend of tax collectors and sinners." (see Luke 7:34) Jesus' detractors spoke those words as something shameful, something that should be run from or hidden from the view of polite society. It is easy to see that Jesus doesn't dispute who he befriends, but he wears it proudly.
In spending time meditating on Jesus as a friend of sinners this week, I recognized that I safely and comfortably redefine Jesus' heart by misreading the words of the text. If I am honest, I almost want the text to say "Jesus is a Facebook friend of sinners" or "Jesus is an acquaintance/colleague of sinners." That's safe, manageable, and distant.
But, Jesus is a friend of sinners. He gets in deeper. Stays longer. Asks more meaningful questions. Gives more meaningful heart-answers. He wants to be all the friend that we need, and more of a friend than we would safely choose.
Though he knows the depths of our hearts- knows the corruption, knows the deceit, knows the brokenness, knows the pain- he is unashamed and unafraid to invite us to be his friend. We would never fully entrust ourselves to someone who only knew part of us, but we can freely entrust ourselves to One who knows us fully and wants to have dinner with us anyway.
So Jesus doesn't walk into anyone's home hiding his face in shame. He is not concerned about the way his actions are perceived. Jesus freely, willingly, joyfully, hopefully, comes to us with his heart-felt invitation to more-than-Facebook-friendship, but to a life of heart transforming relationship that our hearts long for.