lost sheep like us

Good evening friends,
Welcome home to our mission trip folks: Carl, Karen, Karen, Allison, Charlie and Linn! This Sunday we'll be talking about another image of the church: the church as a hospital for sinners. Carl will be preaching since I'll be visiting my grandmother in Atlanta. In preparation for Sunday, this week we'll be reading some reminders about Jesus' special love for the lost. We in the church can always learn from Jesus and his welcome for those whom others rejected.

God bless,
Sam

Luke 15:1-10

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. ²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” ³So he told them this parable: ⁴“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. ⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

⁸“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ ¹⁰Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

tax collectors and sinners

Good morning all,
People have probably always complained about paying taxes, but in Jesus' time taxes were a particularly hot topic. Palestine was ruled by Rome, which meant the Jewish population was resentful because they didn't have the independence they wanted. That was both a political and a religious issues since the land was a gift from God, so foreign occupation was perhaps harder for them than for many of the other groups that made up the Roman Empire. On top of that, Rome's rule was extended geographically and challenged militarily. As a result taxes were high and economic opportunity not always in step with them. The Romans hired Jews to collect taxes for them in Palestine. In general, tax collectors made their living by collecting a bit more than they had to. So for the Jewish population at large Roman rule was oppressive, taxes an almost unmanageable burden, and the people who collected them not only corrupt but even traitors to their religion and people.

So here comes Jesus calling a tax collector to be his disciple and accepting an invitation to eat at his house with a house-full of other tax collectors and "sinners." Maybe we can understand the Pharisees' indignation. Jesus doesn't deny that these folks are morally challenged. Instead he responds that his special calling is to heal the spiritually ill, to call sinners to repentance. Jesus still especially seeks out the outsiders: the morally questionable, the oppressed, the oppressors. It's not for us to look down at the strange collection of people Jesus calls. Instead we're called to be grateful that Christ has called us and to look to the margins for our ministry.

God bless,
Sam

Luke 5:27-32

27After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” 28And he got up, left everything, and followed him. 29Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. 30The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; 32I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.”