By David ReayTuesday 13 Sep 2022LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
By this time a lot of men and women of questionable reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story. (THE MESSAGE)
Our tendency to go to extremes hinders our ability to both grasp our faith and to commend it to others. On the one hand, the religious leaders of Jesus’ day tended to an exclusionary policy when it came to faith. Only the good and decent could get admitted to the faith. So when Jesus is seen seemingly at ease with those who were not good and decent, they were shocked. He was letting in those who should be kept out.
Then again, the other extreme is to sum up the faith as being all about welcoming all and sundry and seeing Jesus as all about love…defined as an easy-going tolerance. This forgets that Jesus was only too happy to greet and meet “sinners”, but also called such people to repentance.
There is a narrow, proud bigotry that is very keen on dividing people between the worthy and the unworthy. There is a lazy sentimentality that is equally keen on avoiding any discrimination that makes anyone feel uncomfortable. Neither seems to reflect the mind and heart and actions of Jesus himself.
Those who follow Jesus have to tread this rather narrow line. They need to remember above all that entrance into God’s family is not based on intrinsic merit or religious observance. The banquet, which Jesus uses as a metaphor for belonging to his family, is a banquet for the desperately hungry, not a sumptuous reward for the apparently righteous.
The offence of the gospel is not simply about who it keeps out, but about who it lets in.
Blessings,
David