Every Christian Should Smell Like Weed?

A couple of months ago I got offered a joint twice in the matter of minutes…

I was sitting at the pavilion where we meet to hand out pizza to the homeless in Waikiki and talking to one of the regulars.  The guy besides me starts rolling a joint.  He lights it and starts smoking it.  The lady I was talking to was like “ugh, is that weed?  I hate the way that smells.”  

The guy smoking reaches across the table.  He then ripped off a piece from the cover of the guy’s book across from him.  He attached it to the last of his joint so he could smoke all of it.  The owner of the book looked pretty flabbergasted.   Somewhere along the line, the guy smoking, offered the joint to the book guy, who then offered it to me.  I declined.  

Then the next table over was rolling a joint and passing it around.  A guy offered it to me a couple of times.  One of them said something along of the lines of “Hey man, I know you’re with the church, and we really appreciate you coming down here to feed us man, and we’re sorry about this man, we’re not bad people this is just what we do.”  

Then later there was a bunch of commotion behind me.  Someone had left a few bottles of liquor and these guys acted like they just won the lottery.  They scooped it up and walked away.  

While all of this happened, I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know what to say.  I felt uncomfortable.  I wondered what Jesus would do in that situation.  My immediate thought was that I needed to proclaim TRUTH, and proclaim it loudly, in typical hell fire and brimstone.  But I knew that wouldn’t work.  What did Jesus do when He was at parties?  His first miracle was turning water into wine… GOOD wine.  

I’m not being some pansy whamsey not take a stand on issues person here… I don’t think smoking weed is a good idea, even though 2 states just legalized it, and I don’t think drinking liquor to get drunk is a good idea either.  But I didn’t have to tell any of those guys that, they already knew that, and they knew where I stood as a Christian.  

How did Jesus treat me while I was yet a sinner, He loved me.  Jesus was so gentle with me.  I didn’t start following Jesus because of some scary message of hell.  I followed Jesus because He offered me hope and a better life.  

In the areas where I fall short now, Jesus does not berate me into submission.  He patiently, gently, helps me to realize that His ways are better.  It’s His kindness that leads us to repentance. 

I returned home that night after outreach with the smell of marijuana on my clothes.  Maybe every Christian should smell like weed, it means we’re keeping company with the “sinners” just like Jesus did.  

Engage:  What do you think Jesus did while He was hanging out with “sinners” at parties?  What was it that made those people attracted to him?  What do you do when you get around “sinners?”  Let us know in the comments.