October 5, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Friend of Sinners

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Opening Prayer

God in Three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, still my restless heart with the grandeur of Your creation.

Read Luke 15:1–10

[1] Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. [2] But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” [3] Then Jesus told them this parable: [4] “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? [5] And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders [6] and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ [7] I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. [8] “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? [9] And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ [10] In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

Today if you are found, celebrate! Don’t get in the way of sinners coming to Jesus but make a way so that he can get to them.

The three glorious parables contained in Luke 15—the sheep, the coin and the sons—are told as a result of the insult leveled at Jesus by the Pharisees and teachers of the Law: “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them” (2). Though Jesus’ theology was very similar to that held by the Pharisees, their practices when it came to sinners were very different. Committed to separation from sin and the preservation of the Law, the Pharisees prided themselves on purity and holiness, whereas the Rabbi from up north didn’t seem to care about hand washing and gnats in the wine, let alone the questionable company he kept!

 

The heart of the insult represents the greatest joy for Jesus, namely that he “welcomes sinners.” They have understood that the sinner thing that Jesus does isn’t a gimmick or a stunt, but is his consistent practice. Jesus isn’t just putting up with sinners but welcomes them and actually enjoys their company—and, dare I say it, they also enjoy his! Once again the glorious paradox of the kingdom is evident. Surely the kingdom is pure, wholesome and holy? Yet here it is among the riff-raff and as The Message puts it, ”the scum.” The Pharisees saw it as their duty to protect God, whereas Jesus saw it as his duty to proclaim him. God doesn’t need protecting (he can look after himself); but his glory needs proclaiming—not to the righteous, the saved and the found; but to the sinner, the broken and the lost. In a world where the righteous sat on the inside and the sinners looked in, Jesus reversed the order so that the sinners were at the center and the religious are looking in.

Apply

How do these parables make you feel about your value to God?

Closing prayer

Lord, in a world where it is easy to be overlooked, I thank You that in Your eyes I am of exceeding worth.

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