Monday, September 27, 2010
Luke 15:1-2 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."
JESUS SEES EVERY SOUL AS PRECIOUS
We are introduced to two groups of people who make frequent appearance in the Gospel accounts. There were the tax collectors and sinners who were viewed by the majority of society as being the untouchables, not worthy of human attention much less God's grace. There were also the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the community who held themselves in high regard when it came to righteousness.
Yet here we find that one group, admittedly sinful, drew near to Him to hear Him. The other group was shocked that Jesus, a respected teacher, would receive sinners and eat with them. They had a spiritual prejudice against this segment of society that had fallen away, even though they were desperately searching for help for their spiritual problems.
To which group do you relate? It's most accurate to say that there are times that we have traits of each group. At times we fall into sin. Sometimes these are deep moral lapses. By God's grace we are called back to Him in repentance. Other times we might be like the Pharisees and consider ourselves morally superior to other people and not even want to share God's Word with them.
Jesus views every soul as precious. He not only spoke at length with Nicodemus, a Pharisee, but also spoke to Zaccheus, a tax collector.
"This Man receives sinners and eats with them." We can be thankful that He does so because otherwise He would not be in our life. Jesus wants each and every soul to be in heaven with Him when the last trumpet sounds. We are assured that He loves everyone, even the person that you look at the in the mirror, because He died for all.
