Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! - Luke 15:1-2
The Pharisees lived their lives in a moral matrix. You are either good or bad. In or out. You are either a tax collector or a Pharisee. A prostitute or a scribe. A drug dealer or a pastor.
So the Pharisees want to know, “Jesus how come no matter where you are there are all kinds of messed up people following you around? Tax collectors? Prostitutes? Notorious sinners?
Jesus responds with three stories - the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. These stories reveal that God doesn’t see the world in the good/ bad matrix. He sees the world in a lost /found matrix.
In other words, when Jesus is asked “How does God feel about irreligious, sinful kinds of people? How does he respond to those kinds of people?” His response is, “He feels the same way you feel when you lose something really valuable to you. He feels the way would feel if you lost your pet, or you lost your paycheck, or your child.”
We have all asked these questions. What does God think about me? Could He put up with me? Does He want anything to do with me? How does God feel about me?
Jesus answer: It depends.
Are you are lost or are you found?
God’s not saying are you good or are you bad. He already knows that.
He doesn’t have a checklist or a report card or a measuring stick.
God says, you are my son. You are my daughter. If you’re lost then my heart breaks. If you’re lost then I am going to find you. I am going to leave everything behind and I am going to go find you. I will chase you down to the end of the driveway in my bathrobe and embarrass myself because I just want to throw my arms around my child who was dead and is now alive!
So the question gets flipped on us.
It is not an in-or-out question.
The question is this: Am I walking up the driveway or am I running away?
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