There have been some high profile cases recently where people have been vilified because of their friendship with someone who later turns out to have a very shady past. I’m thinking specifically of Peter Mandelson and the former Prince Andrew, and their association with the convicted pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.
Now (at the time of writing this) we can’t know if they, themselves, actually committed crimes related to child sexual exploitation, or indeed, whether they actually witnessed such criminal activity by their friend Jeffrey Epstein and decided to keep quiet about it. That, of course, would be a crime in itself. But it is perfectly possible that they (Mandelson and Andrew) did nothing illegal nor witnessed nor had cause to suspect anything illegal done by Epstein. It’s possible, but we don’t know. So the only “crime” that they can be convicted of in the media is “guilt by association”. (It would appear that Andrew may have had sex with a 17 year old but that, under British law, if consensual, is not a crime, however distasteful we may find it) Much has also been made of the fact that they continued their friendship even after Epstein’s crimes had been uncovered. What are we to make of all this as Christians?
Jesus was constantly vilified because of ‘guilt by association’. He ate with tax collectors and prostitutes. He was called a friend of sinners. He said he didn’t come to call the righteous but sinners. He didn’t try to argue that these people were not sinners, but chose to stick by them anyway. How different is Jesus’ attitude towards sinful people compared to what we see played out in our newspapers and TV news bulletins? I confess that I am no great admirer of Mandelson or Andrew Windsor, but unless it can be proven beyond all reasonable doubt that they committed a crime or silently witnessed a crime, we as Christians, should be careful not to join in the media clamour of guilt by association. We might even consider whether being a loyal friend of sinners is actually something that we should uphold? That’s what Jesus does with us.