He was the friend of sinners—of drunks, gluttons, prostitutes, tax collectors, and all manner of social outcasts. He dignified the lives of liars and adulterers, people who habitually hurt those closest to them, by tending to their moral wounds just as he tended to the lame and the blind. He accepted them, he ate with them, and he seemed to enjoy their company even as he told them to stop their patterns of destruction. The kingdom of God would not be imposed by force, but by forgiveness, grace, love, and acceptance. This was the kingdom Jesus was building.
