> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.truehopeforjoy.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? (Part 6) - URL: https://www.truehopeforjoy.com/why-do-bad-things-happen-to-good-people-part-4-2/ - Published: 2026-08-23T19:21:48.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-23T19:51:36.000Z - Author: m - Tags: Bible, Christian, grief, hope, verses, why do bad things happen to good people ## Jesus and the Bad Guys *This is the sixth in a multi-part series on what the Bible says about why bad things happen to ‘good’ people. You can*[ *read Part 1 here*](https://www.truehopeforjoy.com/why-do-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/)*.* Throughout this series, we’ve been talking a lot about the idea of good people and bad people. It feels so natural to us. Therapists may talk about the drama triangle- a simplistic way of seeing people as the villain, the victim or the hero in a situation. This kind of thinking works well for children’s movies, where there is always a mustache twirling bad guy. But this is not what we see when we look at how Jesus interacted with people in the Bible. Though long before animated films, it seems the people of Jesus’s day had a similarly simplistic view of people. Good guys (always us!) and bad guys. Us vs. them. We see this with how the Jewish leaders of the time seemed to think about their people (good guys) vs. Rome (bad guys). Even within the community it seems the people viewed the religious leaders and those who followed their rules the good guys and the people caught in egregious sin, the bad guys. Simple framework. The same one we’ve been looking at throughout this series. Good guys and bad guys. And the natural human expectation that good things should happen to good guys and bad things to bad guys. As it is today, it seems like it was quite similar in the time of Jesus’s earthly ministry. Everyone agreed. Everyone feels good with this rule. There was just one problem. > *Jesus kept hanging out with the bad guys.* There are lots of examples of this throughout the New Testament. There is Jesus reassuring the thief on the cross. Him coming to Zacchaeus’s house for dinner. There is the calling of Matthew, who took advantage of the Jewish people, as one of the 12 disciples. There is the woman at the well. All of these people and more are recorded in the Gospels as people the culture viewed as ‘bad guys’ who Jesus embraced. One example that illustrates this well is when Jesus has a meal with a local religions leader, Simon- someone seen as a good guy. This meal is interrupted by a woman seen as a bad guy (well, bad lady 😉 ). The lady, a sinner, comes into the room and falls to Jesus’s feet weeping. And she washes Jesus’s feet with her tears, wipes them with her hair, and anoints them with alabaster perfume. The religious leader says with seeming contempt: > … “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” > Luke 7: 39b (ESV) Jesus’s response is to tell a story: > Jesus replied to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” > He said, “Say it, teacher.” > “A creditor had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Since they could not pay it back, he graciously forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more? ” > Simon answered, “I suppose the one he forgave more.” > “You have judged correctly,” he told him. Turning to the woman, he said to Simon,“Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she, with her tears, has washed my feet and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet since I came in. You didn’t anoint my head with olive oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” > Luke 7:40-48 (CSB) It seems Jesus is often including and blessing ‘bad guys’ because they can so clearly see the difference between themselves and God. Simon, the Pharisee, seems to interact with Jesus as though he is an equal. Perhaps even looking down on Jesus, since he judges Christ in saying ‘if he were a prophet…’. The woman described as a sinner has the opposite response. She falls to Jesus’s feet. > Those who are forgiven much, love much. One important thing to note is that Jesus is not condoning their sin. Just as John the Baptist did, He calls them to repent. He doesn’t say to the woman, ‘your sin was no big deal.’ He says, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ There is a big difference. Jesus understands the grievousness of each sin way more than anyone else. He feels even more offended by the sins of ‘bad guys’ than even the people who view themselves as good. His offering of forgiveness is not coming from viewing their sin as ‘no big deal’- it’s coming from the exact opposite place. He knows the depth of the sin and the cost of it. And He has committed to deal with it Himself on the cross. He can offer forgiveness of sins, not because the sin doesn’t deserve vengeance, but because He will absorb that vengeance in His own person. He will pay the price for the bad guys. He is paying the price for the people who view themselves as ‘the good guys’ too- sometimes it just takes them longer to realize it. It’s from that place, that Jesus can hang out with the bad guys and offer them true hope. There is forgiveness available. He will purchase it with His life. > *This is the Gospel.* Good News for bad guys. And as Simon and the other religious leaders will soon learn, compared to God’s standard of perfection, [we are all bad guys.](https://www.truehopeforjoy.com/why-do-bad-things-happen-to-good-people-part-3/) Thank you for reading. *This is part of a multi part series on what the Bible says about why bad things happen to ‘good’ people. You can*[ *read Part 1 here*](https://www.truehopeforjoy.com/why-do-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/)*.* If you would like to receive an email as soon as a new article posts, you can sign up[ here](https://www.truehopeforjoy.com/). This copy in this article was written by a real person, me 🙂, not AI. Note: All of the text in the charts, their layout and copy were written by me. The graphical elements were created with the help of AI. For true hope and joy, \~m