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.” - Luke 15:1-2
This week, our online devotionals will be centered on Luke 15 and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In order for us to get beyond our general familiarity with the basic story and grasp the depth of Jesus’ meaning in it, we must understand something about the culture in which it was told and the people to whom it was first addressed.
In just a few verses here, Luke gives us quite a bit of information about the setting in which Jesus told this parable. There was a growing controversy surrounding Jesus wherever He went. Jesus was becoming an irritation and a threat to the religious establishment of His day. His teaching was a challenge to their understanding of God’s law and His miracles were a challenge to their moral authority in that society. This would not really be such a big deal if it were not for the fact that Jesus was drawing a crowd wherever He went; people were listening to Him and gathering around Him. Worse still was the kind of people that were gathering around Jesus. Luke writes that they were “tax collectors and sinners”. This was one of the major objections that the religious establishment had against Jesus.
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” - Matthew 9:10-11
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” - Luke 5:30
Who were the tax Collectors and sinners? Many of us Sunday School types think of the “wee little man” Zacchaeus when we hear the term tax Collector. However, tax Collectors were really a hated lot by the Jews. At this point in history, the world is ruled by Rome, from India to England. Rome was not all the togas and marble that you see in the movies. They were a ruthless empire. In fact, there are historical accounts of Rome conquering a city and then taking thousands of men, women and children, stripping them naked and crucifying them on the road leading up to that city for miles. Anyone going into the city would get the horrific message, “Don’t mess with Rome!” They were a brutal regime. Now if you rule from India to England and you don’t have an air force or you don’t have the ability to press a button and launch weapons, the only way you can govern a landmass that size is with a massive army. How do you fund, supply, feed and train a massive army? Taxes. Heavy taxes on the conquered people to pay for the army that was killing so many of their own people!
The second group that Luke mentions are the “sinners”. For us to understand “sinners,” we have to get out of the Western mindset. Because we tend to think, you’re a sinner, I’m a sinner, everyone is a sinner. That’s not the understanding of the Jews of Jesus’ day (though it should have been). To the Jews, “sinner” applied only to a specific class of people in society: people who are deformed, diseased, or whose profession is one that the Jews would have considered wicked. This included prostitutes, strippers, slave traders, thieves, or those with some kind of physical ailment that the Jews viewed as being a curse from God.
These people would have had the very clear understanding that they were not welcome in the religious circles. They were not allowed to go to the temple. They were not allowed to hear the Torah read aloud in the synagogue. They were totally cut off from the religious life of the community.
I met with a man several years ago that had been in and out of prison and had led a very troubled life. Over a cup of coffee, he said to me, “I am just not the kind of guy that God is interested in, and I have accepted that.” This statement closely resembles the basic view of many of those who were gathered around Jesus.
Now stop and think about this for a moment…
In Jesus day, the moral and religious outsiders were attracted to Him and gathered around to hear His message, while the moral and religious insiders were irritated, annoyed, and confused by Him.
I fear that for too many Christians, and too many churches the dynamic is exactly the opposite. We attract the insiders to our religious club, and those on the outside continue to stay away.
The question is this: Is the church (our church) a place where outsiders and outcasts are made to feel welcome? Are you the kind of Christ-follower that attracts those who might feel as though they are beyond the reach of God’s love? If we claim to be followers of Christ, then we should examine our lives by His standard.
Pastor Jeff Frazier
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