Good Morning All,
Luke 15:2; “And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
One time I had a high school principal tell me that he would step
between a couple of 300 pound football players who were duking it out; but he
would hide if he saw a group of 7th grade girls snarling at each
other. The strange thing was that those
of us who were listening to the story all commiserated with him. Kids can be cruel. They seem to have a pack mentality and heaven
help the one that they turn on.
In many ways, that is
what has happened in our text. The
leaders of the Jewish Church had decided who was and wasn’t a “sinner.” If you were a “sinner” they would attack you
with a vengeance. They would banish you
from the Temple and require you to be “clean enough” to enter the Temple. Of course, this required a certain amount of
money be spent (to them) before that would work. It accomplished two things for the scribes
and the Pharisees; they were wealthy and they rode roughshod on a whole nation
of people so beaten down that they had given up all hope.
Then along comes Jesus,
a respected and honored rabbi. Some even
thought he was a prophet and he had the gall to eat with these “sinners”. We need to remember that eating together at
this time is a somewhat intimate act.
You usually ate from common bowls and either dipped your hand or your
bread into the bowl. It was a sign of
friendship and great hospitality. For
one to eat together was a sign of acceptance of the other person. How could Jesus eat with those
“sinners?” You know; people of
questionable moral quality, people who were forced into situations not of their
choosing, people that others had beat down until they had nothing left. You know those people; “sinners”
You know, people whose
spouses deserted them, who never seemed to catch a break, a young woman trying
to raise a child on her own because of bad choices made years ago, or a young
man given a label because he was curious or a young gal who went to a party and
was taken advantage of; you know “sinners”; people the world just beats down to
no end. Jesus eats with them.
Jesus sees the pain,
the heart ache, the hollowness in the eyes and the emptiness of the soul. Jesus comes to “sinners” like me and like you
and he gives us hope. He comes to us
with his word of forgiveness and hope and he invites us in for a meal and a
chance to heal. He doesn’t judge what we
did; he forgives and forgets and tells us to release the pain and forget about
it. He gives us a new life in him. Jesus eats with sinners and gives them
eternal life.
Dear Jesus, you come to
us and make us whole. You remove the
suffering from our heart and give us hope and life. You give us new life and
the grace to live each day as we continue on our journey with you. In your
precious name we pray, amen
God's Peace,
Pastor Bret
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