Jesus: Friend of Sinners

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Today I looked up Greek and Hebrew words that mean the word “friend.”  There are five Hebrew words listed in Strong’s Expanded Dictionary of Bible Words that mean “friend,” and there are three Greek words. I am going to look at one of the Greek words today that most people are probably familiar with. It’s the word “philos.”

The word “philos” can be found 29 times in the New Testament according to Biblehub.com. It means “beloved, dear and friendly.”

In Matthew 11:19, this word is used to describe Jesus.

“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her actions.”-Matthew 11:19 (BSB)

Jesus was beloved, dear, and friendly to people who were considered sinners. That word sinners is the word “hamartolos” in Greek, and it means sinful. It comes from the root word, “hamartano” which means “to miss the mark, do wrong, sin.”

I think that word for sinners would describe all of us at some point in our lives. And yet, Jesus would still be called our friend.

I love that the definition also means beloved. Later on in the New Testament, in the epistles, Paul, John, Jude and Paul all refer to us as “beloved.”

Jesus came to show us what that relationship would look like with Him.

Do you think of Jesus as your friend? Is it hard for you to imagine Him that way?

I think it helps, if we sit and meditate on Him, being our friend, and treating us the same way He treated those in the Gospel stories. 

A Foundation of Grace: Moses, Joshua & Jesus

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Here’s something interesting to think about. When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they were led by Joshua. Moses was not allowed to go. Why was that? I think sometimes we think God was harsh for not allowing Moses to go in, since he had led them that whole way. But I think there is a bigger picture here.

Joshua is a type of Christ. In Hebrew his name is “Yehoshua,” which means, “the Lord is salvation.” He led the Israelites into the Promised Land. It was a land of great blessings for them, that they did not work for.

To me this sounds like Jesus. Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, and also means “the Lord is salvation” or “Yahweh saves.”

Jesus leads us into our Promised Land, which is life in Christ. It is a land flowing with milk and honey, a land we didn’t work for, full of the richest blessings that Jesus paid for with his life.

So, again, why couldn’t Moses go into the Promised Land with the Israelites? If you remember, once during the Gospels Jesus took Peter, James, and John up onto a high mountain. Elijah and Moses appeared and started talking with Jesus. Moses is a picture of the law, and Elijah is a picture of the prophets.

While they were talking, this happened:

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If You wish, I will put up three shelters— one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”…Matthew 17:4-5 (BSB)

The reason Moses couldn’t go into the Promised Land is because the law cannot go in with you to your Promised Land in Christ. Moses was a picture of the law, even in the Old Testament account. Joshua, a type of Jesus led the Israelites in, just as Jesus leads us as Believers into our Promised Land.

Romans 6:14 says,

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (NKJV)

Isn’t it beautiful that God put this picture for us in this Old Testament account of us going into the Promised Land without the law?

Names in the Life of Jesus

There have been quite a few times that I have heard people speak about women in the Bible and try to combine the different personalities, like the woman who was a great sinner, or Mary Magdalene, or Mary of Bethany. But, I think they were all individuals. I have a couple of reasons why.

The first reason was the authors were specific. They called them the names of people to whom they were connected, or linked them to the name of a specific region. Like, the mother of James and John (John 20:20) or Mary and her sister Martha (John 11:1). Mary Magdalene was most likely called that because she was from a region called Magdala. And the Syrophoenician woman was called that because that is where she was from.

Second, if something changed about them, usually the writers let us know. Like when Jesus renamed Simon. The author would state different names for one person., and Simon, who was also named Peter (Acts 10:18).

Finally, and this is opinion, I feel like we short change the ministry of Jesus when we combine persons. I believe that a lot of those people were all very interconnected, more than we know. But Jesus touched so many lives. How do I know that?

John 21:25 says, “There are many more things that Jesus did. If all of them were written down, I suppose that not even the world itself would have space for the books that would be written.”

He’s a great Jesus, and we want all their stories to be told. Because in them, we find ours.