Day 15 of 24

 Today's passage: Luke 15

Today's focus: vs 1-2

Jesus tells three famous parables that many songs, books, and sermons have written about in great depths. The Parable of the: Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Son(s). 

I want to draw attention to verses 1 and 2 because they help us understand what prompted Jesus to explain God's Kingdom in three different parables. 

Vs 1: Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

As we read through the life of Jesus, we see that His encounters with sinners are different than our western society. Society tells us that in order to "love" people, we accept them as they are and respect all views. Jesus doesn't take this approach. 

• He never excuses the sins saying, "You had a broken past. Your life is hard. Society has not been fair to you." 
• He does not normalize it by saying, "It's okay. Everyone sins." 
• He does not naturalize it saying, "You're only human." 
• He does not deny it saying, "It isn't sin. Do whatever makes you feel happy."

He calls it for what it is: sin. Then He forgives them. His direction after that is to go and do not commit that sin any more which is a call to holiness. This is the ultimate expression of love. The three parables He tells helps us understand what sin does to us, and what it does to Him. 

Today, His approach would be seen as-

• intolerant
• insensitive
• closed-minded
• bigot
• hateful

Today's two verses opens our eyes to a different narrative. Jesus' direct approach to sin still drew sinners to Him. They saw His warnings as loving. They saw His forgiveness as a second chance. His tone was not sharp or rude. In fact, that's what accuse Him of-- He was "too nice." Jesus receives sinner and eats with them. 

While calling out their sin, calling them to repent, and commanding them to change, Jesus showed compassion, mercy, friendship, warmth, and hospitality. 

Society tells us we can only do one or the other. They tell us that if we are to eat with sinners, we must not talk about their sins. If we are to be loving, we must accept their sins. Western Christianity teaches that we must not associate with sinners (much like the Pharisees and scribes). 

 We see Jesus perfectly display love through calling them to repentance while being compassionate and warm. Let's aim to walk as Jesus did in both.