The Unrespectable Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Greg Carey's new book, Sinners, is a focused look on Jesus and his followers. We often have a saccharine view of Jesus, that he befriended good men and women who wanted to live according to the commandments and according to love. Yet we forget that Jesus' friends were prostitutes, tax collectors, people who were unforgiving, Gentiles, and so forth.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2011\/04\/the-unrespectable-jesus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Unrespectable Jesus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Greg Carey's new book, Sinners, is a focused look on Jesus and his followers. 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{"id":641,"date":"2011-04-20T15:49:38","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T15:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/takeandread\/?p=641"},"modified":"2011-04-20T15:49:38","modified_gmt":"2011-04-20T15:49:38","slug":"the-unrespectable-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2011\/04\/the-unrespectable-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unrespectable Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

As a pastor of many years I see people come Sunday after Sunday to worship God in their Sunday best; hats, ties, dresses, and suits and of course smiles on their faces. At coffee hour they laugh and share the latest news and gossip. Yet underneath all of that I realize that these people are first and foremost sinners; people who have missed the mark. They have lacked love and care for the poor, neglected to share their personal possessions and resources, and have forgotten the greatest commandment to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. They have fallen short. We often think of sin as the biggies; murder, adultery, or fornication. But its the small things that get in the way.<\/p>\n

Greg Carey\u2019s new book published by Baylor University Press is a focused look on Jesus and his followers. Its title, which is supposed to be provocative, is called Sinners: Jesus and His Earliest Followers<\/em><\/a>. We often have a saccharine view of Jesus, that he befriended good men and women who wanted to live according to the commandments and according to love. Yet we forget that Jesus\u2019 friends were prostitutes, tax collectors, people who were unforgiving, Gentiles, and so forth. In other words most of us would not have been caught dead with Jesus\u2019 friends! After all Christians are supposed to be \u201crespectable.\u201d Carey takes eight chapters and shows his readers what is really at the heart of the matter: that Jesus came to save sinners, which means you and me (even in our best Sunday dress or suit), and that we have eternal life in his name. Take and read Carey\u2019s book, you won\u2019t be disappointed.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"