Scripture: Luke 15:1-7
All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Jesus told them this parable:“Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives.
Consider:
The scandal at the beginning of this story is central to understanding the parable. The Pharisees and legal experts represent here the religioius establishment and the government officials respectively. The power of both institutions rested on a strict social, moral, and legal heirarchy with rules and structures and punishments for those who didn’t comply. You were either in or out, criminal or respectable, sinner or redeemed. There was no in-between and, for these officials, loosening those rules and structures would, in their minds, lead to collapse.
On the other hand, Jesus was welcoming both folks to sit at the same table. The officials may be grumbling, but in order for them to talk with Jesus they have to physically be present at the table. This was not the days when you could post anonymously hate and criticism, then tag someone into it. No, if you were going to critique and mock, you had to do it in person.
The officials couldn’t understand how someone who claimed to be holy would think he could sit down at table with sinners and not get up dirty, while missing the fact they themselves were sitting at the same table!
It’s true that hypocrisy is one of the central and most common side effects of sin. We are really good at pointing out how other people are wrong or corrupt or “evil”, without owning up to the fact we are sitting at the same table. No, maybe you haven’t done the specific thing that another person has done, but you are currently sitting at table with sinners, just as Jesus has done.
That doesn’t mean “well he did it so I can do it too” is an acceptable mindset or course of action. It does mean we should be careful about who we think Jesus would exclude or include and what barriers there are to the table of grace. Jesus’s ultimate goal is for all 100 sheep to be in the folds together, with not even one lost sheep missing from the fold.
Respond:
Take some time to consider who you may be consciously or unconsciously excluding from your table. Do you sit with the same people every week at church? Do you talk to people with different opinions or life experiences from you?
Make a choice today how you can include one more sheep in your own flock, one which might make the conversation around your table more rich, deep, and reflective of God’s table.
Pray:
Lord of the Table, open my eyes to those I overlook. Move me beyond my comfortable circles to welcome a new voice—someone with a different story. Grant me the courage to include one more sheep today, that our fellowship might become richer, deeper, and truly reflective of Your love. Amen.
