Charlie Sheen, the Grace of God, and Compassion of Jesus

Forgive me for riding on the coat tails of the recent spotlight Charlie Sheen was in. I realize that it has been two weeks or more since he held the attention of America as he seemed to spiral more and more out of control. But I thought this would be a great opportunity to illustrate the grace of God and compassion of Jesus in a contemporary setting. I am sure that Christians everywhere who were paying attention to the news looked at the life Charlie was living and in harmony shouted what a sinner he is. I am sure that in certain circles an abundance of condemnation and judgment were heaped upon him for his misdeeds.

But is this the biblical approach to how we should respond to Charlie Sheen? Looking at Scripture, Jesus spent his time with, and gathered his followers from those perceived to be the worst in society. It was scandalous that Jesus spent his time with adulterers and prostitutes. The Pharisees even asked Jesus' disciples why he spent time with such vile people. Jesus' response was classic, "those who are seek need the physician, not those who are well." It would later be understood that no one is truly well enough not to need a physician. Paul wrote, "all have sinned and have fallen short." Jesus spent time with these "wretched" people because they needed him. He did not avoid them because of what they did. Jesus befriended and showed love and compassion to these "worst of sinners" because no one else would.

But these people, you might object, repented of their sins, which is why he spent time with them, right? Actually, the answer is "no." These "sinners" only repented after Jesus showed them love and compassion. Let us look at the story of Zacchaeus from Luke 19:1-10. In this story, it was not until Jesus accepted an invitation from the tax collector to come eat with him, and it was not until Jesus had spent some time with Zacchaeus, that he agreed to give his ill gotten earnings back, and to give some to the poor. It was not a requirement that Zacchaeus repent before Jesus would accept his invitation. It was only when Jesus showed him love and acceptance without ulterior motives that the man repented.

That is interesting because in today's Church, we expect repentence to come before a person is accepted in. But it seems that in Jesus' day, acceptence came first, followed by repentence. Maybe that is why the Church is losing numbers today, we have things backwords. We expect people to change their lives, showing them judgment and condemnation, which does the counter of what we want by preventing them from changing their lives. We see someone like Charlie Sheen and critize and ridicule him, and then are surprised when he gets worse. If Jesus were around today, Charlie Sheen would be the one Jesus would be spending time with, showing love and compassion, even accepting his two "girl friends" into the fold, knowing that by showing him that love and grace, the true medicine of the physician, Charlie would find the healing he so desperately needs for his wounds. Meanwhile, I am sure that Jesus would reprimand many within the Church for being so condemning, and for not providing the much needed medicine of love, mercy, and grace.
Blessings,
-Brandon