In Rodney Stark’s modern classic, "The Rise of Christianity," the famous sociologist wrote about Jesus’ priorities of love and service and how early Christians demonstrated those values. His research revealed that in the ancient world, when deadly plagues hit, everyone abandoned the dead and dying and ran, except for Christians.
At the time, Christianity was a new faith and not well respected. The church was unpopular because of its high sexual standards and refusal to worship the emperor. But Roman attitudes began to change as people observed the sacrificial love with which the church helped the helpless. It was a dramatic and powerful fulfillment of Jesus’ statement, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35, NLT).
Jesus’ example and the practice of the early church show us how we are to treat the homeless, widows, single parents and orphans. While none of us will do this perfectly, we nevertheless are to serve the helpless and poor as the early Christians did.
Unfortunately, there will always be some Christians who mistakenly believe people must clean up their act before we love them, but this was not how Jesus lived, and it is not how he wants you and me to live. Matthew quoted Jesus saying about himself, “The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’” (Matt. 11:19, NLT).
Jesus sincerely loved those the self-righteous hypocrites of his day despised. He shared God’s love with an immoral Samaritan woman in John 4. He befriended an unpopular tax collector named Zacchaeus in Luke 19. He was the only friendly face in the crowd when an adulterous woman was thrown at his feet, and the religious leaders demanded that she be stoned to death in John 8.
Jesus consistently demonstrated how much he loved imperfect people. While the religious leaders of his day eagerly exposed others’ failures to elevate themselves, Jesus condemned their harsh focus on rules and total lack of concern for those who were hurting. He perfectly modeled what it means to love those few care about and show unconditional grace to those who stumble.
He demonstrates how to support and be a friend to those who fail. Loving others like Jesus means we must never be eager to abandon those who do not measure up, just as God has never given up on us.
