I’m going to do the Bible reading for us this morning. It will come up on the screen so if you could please turn with me to Luke 15:1-10, Luke 15:1-10. I will start reading.
“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them a parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just 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. Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Here ends the reading of God’s Word.
Well, good morning again, ladies. (This is on? Okay cool) yeah, it’s really lovely to be here with you all, and yeah, I look forward to just getting to meet some of you afterwards, so please do keep your Bibles open in Luke 15. Keep me accountable!
So, this morning we will be looking at a very well-known passage. I think many of us here will have heard many sermons on Luke 15 and so I’m aware that many of us might come with an attitude of over-familiarity to the passage and that might rob us actually from hearing God speak to us again, so won’t you to pray with me again, as we ask God to help our hearts.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you that your Word is always relevant. Thank you that your Word meets us where we are. Father, as we come to your Word this morning, I just pray, Lord that you would still our hearts, quiet in our minds, and help us, Lord, to hear what you have to say and to believe what you have to say to us. So, we just pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Responses To Inappropriate Behaviour
So, I wonder, ladies, have you ever found or caught someone red handed, doing something that they were not supposed to be doing? Their response to being found out is usually quite typical, hey? So, I have a friend (won’t say her name) but she has this really harmful habit of ingesting something that’s meant for external use only. And I have caught her in the act a couple of times, and I would be like, “Did you just eat that?” And one of two things would happen: either flatout denial, “No that’s not what I was doing. That’s not what you saw.” Or immediately throwing it out as if to say, “Okay, okay, I’ve thrown it out. Don’t scold me. Let’s pretend it never happened.” And those of you with kids in the room might think of how this usually happens with your kids. But whether kid or an adult, when someone is caught doing something that is regarded as generally inappropriate, the response will either be to flatout deny or to stop doing it immediately.
Jesus With Inappropriate People
In our passage this morning, Scripture records for us a time when Jesus was caught hanging out with tax collectors and sinners. Now some of us here will know that tax collectors were pretty much disliked by everyone in those days. See, not only were they working for the enemy, that is the Roman authorities, but they were also quite dishonest in their trade. And sinners, on the other hand, well, these were the unclean of the day. These were the immoral. These were the ones who were living degrading lives like drunkards or prostitutes. And in that culture, dining with someone or eating with someone meant that you were extending a hand of fellowship to them. And so, to be in fellowship with sinners meant that you would be unclean.
And it was also a shame and honour culture and so to be in fellowship with tax collectors, who were known for their dishonesty, meant that you would be dishonoured, or you would bring dishonour to your family. And so, to be hanging out with both these groups was not only dishonourable, but for a devout, a devout Jew, that meant being exposed to uncleanness and therefore also being made unclean. And there Jesus was, the holy Son of God, hanging out with them.
And who catches him in the act? Well, we’re told that it’s the Pharisees and the scribes. These were the religious leaders who held to the strictest order of purity and the strict adherence to the law, and they immediately called Jesus out. They lay their accusation against him in verse 2, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Notice that the charge is not only for dining with sinners and tax collectors and therefore being in fellowship with them, but that he also receives them. He welcomes them. There’s warmth in Jesus’ reception of sinners that the religious leaders find inappropriate.
You see, in his letters, Paul uses that same word of welcoming to call the church to receive people like Phoebe and Epaphroditus, who are Gospel workers that he said are worthy of honour. So, can you see what the Pharisees and the scribes are charging against Jesus? They’re saying, “This man receives sinners with warmth and honour that should be reserved only for the worthy. He receives worthless sinners with warmth that’s fit, that’s fit only for the worthy. How could he? Does he not know what they have done? Does he not know who they are?”
Now I’d like us for a second to imagine being the tax collector or the sinner in that room. Can you imagine what must have gone through their minds as they heard the Pharisees and the scribes laying a charge against Jesus for being around them? I imagine that it must have felt like how an imposter feels when they’ve just been exposed. I imagine that their hearts would have been beating really fast as they prepared to be cast out and thrown out, like something that shouldn’t be ingested. They knew that there was some truth to what the Pharisees and the scribes were saying. They’re just saying it like it is. Who am I to be in the presence of this worthy man, of this honourable man? I know how dishonourable my life has been. I know what I just, what I did just the other day, just yesterday or just even this morning. I know my filth, my shame. I shouldn’t be so close to a person so pure. The Pharisees and the scribes have blown the cover and we’re about to be cast out. Or Jesus is about to withdraw from me like someone who’s been caught doing something wrong. Right?
Jesus’ Response To The Pharisees And Scribes
Well, no. As we heard when Fundi read, Jesus’ response was quite unexpected. You see, this was not the first time Jesus was caught by the Pharisees and scribes dining with tax collectors and sinners. The first time in Luke’s gospel when Jesus was charged for dining with sinners, his response was to tell them about his mission on earth. So, Luke 5:32. He said,
“I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
But that seems to have not gotten across to the Pharisees the scribes and so this time round in our passage when accused that he not only dines with sinners but welcomes them, this time Jesus will respond by showing them the heart of God. He responds by revealing to them what makes God’s heart jump for joy. And he responds in such a way that both the religious Pharisee and scribe and the sinner and tax collector can hear what he has to say. You see, both the religious and the sinner must know God’s true heart.
So won’t you look with me at Jesus response in verses 3 to 10. So, the accusation was laid in verse 2 and then verse 3 we are told that Jesus responded to the charge against him by telling a parable. But did you notice how the way Jesus told the parable was not by way of statement, but it was by way of question? He posed his response as questions. He asked, “what man of you,” and then, as if thinking as that maybe the women in the, in the room might not relate, he adds, “Or what woman,” in verse 8 and goes to give a very similar scenario. You see Jesus tells the parable by way of question because he wants each person present there to examine their own hearts. Jesus is going to respond in a way that should hit home. He poses his response in question format so that each person is first confronted by their own heart, before being confronted by the heart of God, almost as if to say, “I want you to understand something of your heart so that you can understand something of God’s heart.” Jesus will respond to the charge against him by revealing God’s true heart to his audience, but he will do so by way of first exposing their own hearts to themselves.
Jesus’ Parable Of Finding What We Value
So, Jesus used everyday scenarios that every person in that room or in that gathering would have been able to relate to. The men owned sheep, so they could imagine losing one. In fact, it probably was something that had happened to some of them. The question in verse 4 is “Which of you, if you had a hundred sheep and lost one, would not leave the 99 and go after the lost one?” Now that seems like a reckless situation, a reckless scenario to us, right? Like, why leave the 99 to go after the one? But Jesus knew that if his listeners examined their hearts, they would actually find themselves to be just that reckless.
So, my father owned sheep, okay, so I have seen first-hand how a man gets when he has lost his sheep. In our house, the shepherd would be sent back to the fields to go looking for that sheep. My brothers would be called from wherever they were to go…
