Luke 15:1-7

Luke 15:1-7 Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 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.

Jesus welcomed tax collectors and sinners into his midst. He did not reject their presence; He welcomed them. Do we do the same or are we like the self-righteous religious leaders of Jesus' time who rejected the presence of sinners at the dinner table? They strongly criticized Jesus for affiliating with these people, the outcasts of respectable society. Jesus associated with lawbreakers, people who did not obey the strictures of the Jewish society. These "sinners" along with the tax collectors were viewed as outcasts, traitors to their people, lackeys of the Romans. As far as the Jewish elite were concerned, they were definitely a despicable lot. But just as Jesus previously revealed how we should treat the poor, lame, blind, and crippled, He now states how we should treat people who are spiritually infirm. In today's passage, Jesus faults the religious community for their lack of compassion, their unwillingness to love the unlovely, even those who might be their enemies. For sure, the religious elite would not invite these people to their banquets.

Jesus reiterates a consistent theme of his ministry: how can the weak find help if the strong do not help them? How can the physically maimed find healing unless the strong help them? How will the spiritually bankrupt find their way back to God unless the spiritually strong show them the way? Someone must pay a price to help people who are lost and without hope. God sent Jesus to Earth to pay that price, to reveal that kind of love. The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed. (Luke 4:18) Jesus reveals his commission in the above parable. He tells about a shepherd using his strength and time to go out and rescue a lost sheep. The shepherd could have sat in his home, saying, "Oh well, at least I have the ninety-nine." But Jesus says, out of love for the lost sheep, the shepherd goes after the lost one to secure that sheep into the fold. He uses his strength and abilities to find the lost one and bring him home. This is the shepherd's heart, the servant's heart. This should be our heart as well.

In the above scenario, salvation came to a wayward sheep, and heaven rejoices over its redemption. We also should rejoice over a lost one that is found. But how can they be found if we don't put our energy and talents into finding them? How can they be found if we don't associate with them? How will they enter into the kingdom of God if we don't help them, minister to them? Again, Jesus castigates the religious elite by telling them they are better at judging people than helping them. They are better at putting roadblocks in front of sinners than opening a door for them so they might find hope and deliverance.

Notice, they were all the shepherd's sheep; they were all his. The Bible says all people were made in God's image--we are all his. But some of us are lost, and we do not know the way home. What are Christians to do with this situation? Well, through the blood of Jesus, God has made us new creatures, born again creatures, people capable of finding and helping the wandering sheep. Christ called us to become fishers of men. We have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit abiding in us; therefore, we are equipped to rescue the lost. But if we don't associate with them, how can we rescue them? Are we asking gay people to leave his gayness before we love them, the alcoholics to leave their alcoholism before we invite them to our banquets? Are we asking the troubled and angry to forsake their ways before we comfort them or offer healing? Are we asking our enemies to change their attitudes towards us before we reach out to them?

The Jewish elite grumbled at Jesus, dismissed him because He associated with the lost. But Jesus said, this is why I am here, to save the lost household of Israel, to bring in the wanderers who have chosen their own way rather than God's way. The account of the shepherd seeking the lost sheep reveals Jesus' heart. Is this your heart? Is this the image of love and reconciliation that God portrays through you? Or are you outside of the banquet, looking in, dressed in your own robes of righteousness and criticizing the scene: the poor, the unlovely, the sinners seated at the table? Are you telling Jesus He shouldn't associate with those gays, those abortionists, the lost sinners? No, Jesus says, I will even associate with the hated tax-collectors, the traitors to our country, that I might save some. Are we outside spewing hatred and condemnation or are we inside the banquet hall, revealing God's love to the forsaken and forgotten ones? We have a choice. The Bible even asks us to love our wayward, hateful masters who beat us every day. Jesus tells us to love as He loved: even while we were yet sinners He loved us and died for us. HE IS THE GOOD SHEPHERD. As his body, we are good shepherds to the people of our day. Will you do as Christ did, fully extend your love to the unlovely? Today there are lost sheep for us to find.