How Did Jesus Turn People to God?
Many well-meaning believers use condemnation or fear in an attempt to get people to live holy. However, Jesus chose a better way to get even greater results. In Matthew 9:13, Jesus said He would use mercy to bring sinners to repentance. The word “repentance” or “repent” in the Greek simply means a change of mind. You can’t change a person’s heart without first changing his/her mind.
Moreover, you can’t change someone’s lifestyle without changing what that person believes in his/her heart.
What was it about Jesus showing sinners mercy that would change their mind? Could it be they didn’t see or believe God was merciful or forgiving? If you know how the Pharisees and Jewish religious leaders portrayed God, it would be easy to come to that conclusion. They saw God as harsh, demanding, judgmental, and angry. But suddenly, Jesus showed up and said,
“When you see me you see the Father,”
(John 14:9). His actions unveiled God’s heart and intentions to people who had the wrong view of God.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see these bold reminders that God is good and full of mercy and compassion. Yet, today, as in Jesus’ day, we still have people who believe God is angry with some people and hates others. Furthermore, they falsely teach that He punishes us all for our sins by afflicting us with sicknesses, calamities or tragedies. If you didn’t know better, you would think God was schizophrenic and had multiple personalities.
Contrary to those beliefs, we can rest assured that God isn’t punishing us for our sins. If He was, He would owe Jesus, who already paid for our sins on the cross an apology. Paul wrote the Corinthian believers and told them that God isn’t holding our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19).
Jesus understood that if people could see and experience God’s mercy, it would not only touch their hearts but help change their view of who God truly is. In 1 John 4:18, it tells us that perfect love drives out fear and those who are afraid of God haven’t yet been perfected by love. Jesus in the flesh was perfect love personified. When people heard and saw how He treated others, they were emboldened to come to Him for help with their own issues and problems. They didn’t fear rejection or being judged by Him. They saw Him as a vessel of God’s mercy that they needed. As Jesus predicted, His display of mercy was, in fact, turning people to God. However, this theology was abhorrent to the Pharisees. They believed God could not accept sinners and rejected them outright.
Here is the contrast: Jesus knew God didn’t reject sinners. Rather, He accepted them as they are. Whereas, the Pharisees held to a theological view that to come to God, they first had to prove their holiness by keeping the “Law.” In time, as they showed God how righteous they could be, He would accept them because they met the requirements. Thus, they will have earned the right to God’s blessings like healing etc. In other words, they earned and deserved those blessings.
Sadly, today, many believers still think like the Pharisees did. Here comes Jesus passing out God’s blessings and healing power to people the Pharisees think don’t deserve them. We now have this clash of views of who God is. Jesus operates from knowing the heart of God is full of mercy, but the Pharisees do so from the position that God rejects you when you sin.
The interesting thing about these two views is Jesus knew the Pharisees were hypocrites. They told people how they should live to be blessed by God when the truth is they were not living what they preached. Their followers were not seeing God’s blessings or power in their lives.
We have no record in the New Testament of any Pharisee healing the sick or casting out a devil.
Instead, we see them criticize Jesus for healing the sick on the Sabbath and even accusing Him of being a devil when He casts out devils in a person. The point is the Pharisees believed God’s power and blessings came as a reward for living right. Needless to say, Jesus turned this view upside down by healing and abundantly blessing the very people the Pharisees considered sinners and unworthy of God’s help.
Jesus’ demonstration of God’s mercy through forgiveness and healing did more to turn people to God than the Pharisees accomplished by threatening people with God’s wrath if they didn’t live right.
Think about this: never in Scripture do we see God rebuke or correct anyone for being too merciful or loving.
Therefore, if Jesus used God’s mercy to bring people to repentance shouldn’t we follow His example?
