Jesus! What a friend for sinners!
Jesus! lover of my soul:
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole,
Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Hallelujah! what a friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.
-J. Wilbur Chapman, 1910
We all have different kinds of friends.
We have acquaintances, we have people that we talk to, and then we have close, intimate friends. The best, intimate friends have specific qualities. They stick with us no matter what happens. They are honest with us even if it hurts. They might even give up their life for the sake of their friend. By all these definitions, Jesus Christ is the greatest friend that her lived. Chapman’s hymn describes Jesus as a friend to sinners. Aren’t you glad that Jesus is a friend to sinners? That means that He is a friend to all of us even in the middle of our sin and struggle.
Nowhere is Jesus’ friendship to sinners more clearly seen than in John 8.
A woman caught in the middle of her sin is brought before Jesus. His response is epic, and challenges us to look ago our own self-righteous hearts and how we look at ourselves and others.