Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ 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.
Grace to you from the Mystery in whom we live and breathe and have our being.
“This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them”
According to their laws, the Pharisees were not to associate with sinners much less eat with them. During the time of Jesus, the phrase “people of the land” was another name for sinner. I’m not sure what “people of the land” meant but it sounds kind of earthy and organic to me. But for them it meant they were religiously ignorant, and disobedient of the law. Even the pettiest laws.
We could all understand if people of the land were deliberately referring to indigenous peoples and their mistreatment. All through history indigenous people have been displaced and isolated.
The story tells us that those people of the land were drawn to Jesus. He had a way about him. A welcome way. Jesus had compassion on the misplaced, the disregarded and the tribeless.
Why were sinners drawn to Jesus? Were they the people of the land considered religiously ignorant and lawless? Or were they the lost sheep Jesus is referring to in the parable?
If so, are they really lost? Their focus is on the charisma of Jesus. Whatever is drawing them near to him is so compelling perhaps they don’t feel lost anymore. Maybe they were lost and detested by the tribe but now they feel seen. They are being introduced to a God like they’ve never known. One who would not wait for them to get it together but risks his own life in searching for them.
Jesus sidestepped any steps and prerequisites needed to enter a larger universal tribe. No claims of landownership, voting rights or visas were required.
Jesus as the guide did not demand exaltation or a title from them. He did not question their allegiance or have them fill out a questionnaire on why they want to join the Jesus brigade.
They weren’t asked if they were living with their boyfriends and girlfriends or to accept the tenants of the tribe and rehearse the answers. I do, I will, I do, I do, I will. (Forgive me it’s an old confirmation joke. I loved growing in my Presbyterian tribe and appreciated my age of confirmation.)
The sinners just drew near to him.
Why did they draw near to Jesus? All we know is every time they are having an intimate moment or meal with Jesus, the Pharisees show up. The Pharisees are drawn to Jesus also, but for nefarious reasons. The kicked-out sinners just can’t seem to shake these guys!
Why wasn’t Jesus called a sinner a people of the land? Jesus did not seek acceptance as a fellow Jew, yet Jesus was Jewish through and through. I doubt Jesus needed to go on the show “Find Your Roots” to know his identity. Jesus was clearly one of those in line for royalty and privilege, yet he chose something different in the world.
Jesus never became uprooted from his tribal origin. He respected it and it expanded. He wandered into the world of the lost and expanded his world and theirs.
Though rooted in Jewish traditions and culture he did not abandon his roots he desired to reform them. In this hierarchical religious environment love and compassion were lost in the minutia of religious law and order.
Once one was declared a sinner, they were ostracized and by law the tribe was not to have no contact with them, much less eat with them.
The Pharisees confronted Jesus concerning his cavorting with the people of the land that are standing near him. With total disregard for those who had been lost and disconnected from their tribe, the Pharisees go all law and order on Jesus.
Jesus begins to tell the parable of the lost sheep. I’m fascinated by the interaction. Was Jesus speaking directly to the Pharisees and appealing to their conscience? He must have believed that nobody was so lost that they couldn’t be reached.
Not even the Pharisees.
Was Jesus making a defense for himself? Was Jesus defending those who followed him who had been made lost by the very people attacking him? Or was he appealing to the Pharisees and the possibilities of transformation?
I don’t think Jesus is one bit afraid of his accusers. I don’t think he is trying to save himself by telling the sweet story of the lost sheep.
If he were, perhaps it would have sounded more like, “come on guys leave us alone, even you would go get a dumb sheep who wandered off.”
Perhaps he is cutting to the core of the deep longing that even the Pharisees had.
Over the years they’d become detached from the origin of their deep rootedness. A tribe who escaped their own exile. Maybe the Pharisees had become the people of the land instead of the people of God who were promised a land of hope and identity. To maintain their position in the tribe they put law and land before compassion. It’s not an indictment of the Jews. It is a part of our human condition.
The Pharisees attacking Jesus were the lost sheep and Jesus went into the rocky Judean wilderness to draw them unto himself. Willing to carry a sinner, a Pharisee, and a raggamuffin on his shoulders home.
Jesus wasn’t hanging out with sinners and tax collectors as part of his duty. He was not eating with them out of pity. Maybe he enjoyed eating and conversing with them. Perhaps he loved those who could not earn righteousness. They were declared righteous to be around.
AMEN
Psalm 14
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
All are corrupt and commit abominable acts;
there is none who does any good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon us all,
to see if there is any who is wise,
if there is one who seeks after God.
3 Everyone has proved faithless;
all alike have turned bad;
there is none who does good; no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge, all those evildoers
who eat up my people like bread
and do not call upon the Lord?
5 See how they tremble with fear,
because God is in the company of the righteous.
6 Their aim is to confound the plans of the afflicted,
but the Lord is their refuge.
7 Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come out of Zion!
when the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice, and Israel be glad.
Wednesday Respite is a 30-min contemplative service of scripture, prayer, music and a Spirited Touchpoint by Henry Rojas, spiritual director at Spirit in the Desert.
Touchpoint is a reflection on where God’s story touches our life story. It is a short homily based on a biblical story of people in the Old and New Testaments and their relationship with God. Our spiritual ancestors’ experience of God’s grace connects with our lives in the present and our relationship with the Divine. Previous Touchpoints are available as PDFs or on SoundCloud.
0 Comments