A man named David Berkowitz terrorized New York City 50 years ago, killing six people in a murderous rampage that lasted a year before he was arrested. This week the man nicknamed “Son of Sam” outraged many with a proclamation that he fully expects to go to Heaven when he dies.
Berkowitz said, “I’m already free. Jesus, who is my Lord and Messiah, has already set me free from the power of sin and Satan.”
A man who survived after being shot by Berkowitz met the bold assertion of eternal life with angry words, including some a little too crude for this blog. He opined - “I sincerely doubt he is going to heaven. He is lucky he is not already in hell.” https://nypost.com/2026/05/21/us-news/son-of-sam-killer-david-berkowitz-predicts-hell-go-to-heaven/
The scandal of God’s amazing grace is that even the worst of the worst are never beyond redemption no matter how offensive it may seem to our sense of justice. I can empathize with the man who suffered terribly, and, at the same time, I am grateful for the sacrifice of the Savior that reaches to the lowest and includes me!
In Matthew’s Gospel we learn the stories of the men that
Jesus chose to follow Him. They were invited to be with Him, to learn His ways,
and to hear His words. In just 3 years He would send them with the Good News to
the ends of the earth.
Who was worthy of the calling? Who did He choose?
It was not the religious, the outwardly pure, or the society elites. He did not
pick those who were well-connected or who held positions of influence. He chose
ordinary men, even some that society considered outcasts! One of them was a
person despised by general society. His name? Matthew!
"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:9-14, NIV)
Matthew was labeled by the town because he cooperated with the occupation army of Romans as a tax collector. Many who held those positions were also crooks who enriched themselves from their fellow Jews. Shunned for their work, tax collectors avoided the synagogue which was the center of Jewish life. Thus, they were also labeled, ‘sinners.’ Jesus saw past the job title and the social label into the heart of the man and there he saw a hunger for God. And He called him – “Follow me!”
It was scandalous. How could the Rabbi, a teacher about the things of God, invite a person so compromised in character to become His friend and associate?
Those who were thought to be closest to God because of their scrupulous observance of the Law of Moses were confounded. “Why does your Teacher eat with these ‘low-lifes,’ these nobodies, these people who are not worthy of our God?” Jesus overheard the conversation and defined His mission for them.
He was the
Advocate of the Broken,
the Healer of the spiritual sick,
the Giver of mercy to those who had failed.
And He still is.
Jesus never told ‘sinners’ to keep on living the same way they were when He found them. He accepted people and led them to change and transformation. Oh, how I pray He would give Christians today the sensitive and loving ability to do the same.
We tend to fail at one extreme or the others. Either we determine that only the ‘select’ are good enough for God and our fellowship, our spiritual pride making us ugly and exclusive; or we make grace cheap and we are unable to ‘speak the truth in love’ and thus, to invite people to become like Jesus, to wrestle with those parts of life that need to be restored to the will of their Father.
The inarguable fact is this - Nobody is beyond the reach of God’s grace, not even a man like David Berkowitz. Everybody can be transformed by the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
He loved me and is changing me, day by day, into Christ’s likeness. How about you?
Have you been told you were the wrong … gender, color, age … not smart enough … too scarred by your past … to be included in God’s love, to be invited into His Kingdom? Those are lies. Reject them and listen to the Spirit of God who says, “You are invited.”
Respond with faith and God will put you on His team, equipping you for spiritual service, preparing you for an awards banquet where He will overlook nothing, forget no one.
When you experience God’s grace, accept His great love, and find a place in His family let your life become one marked by love that is scandalous, that reaches to all, that is willing to forgive others.
Here is a word from the Word. I pray it will remind all of us to open the doors to Christ to ALL. Regardless of your pedigree, your performance, or your pride soak your mind in the Truth declared here that is beyond amazing.
“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your
many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying
the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world…. All of
us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of
our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like
everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that
even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised
Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been
saved!) … God saved you by his
grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from
God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so
none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has
created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us
long ago.” (Ephesians 2 NLT)
Isn’t that just amazing?
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