Lent 4 ILCWC2022
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Luke 15:1-3 (NIV)
1 Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." 3 Then Jesus told them this parable:
Luke 15:11-32 (NIV)
11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. 25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' 28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' 31 "'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"
As we approach Good Friday, we are reminded in our midweek worship services of the opposition that Jesus faced and how it culminated in his arrest, trials, sentencing to death, and his crucifixion.
What did Jesus do that caused so much antagonism toward him?
Did he lie?
Did he desert his followers?
Did he convince people to give him large sums of money that he used for his own personal luxuries?
Did he have his own personal harem?
Did he rebel against the government?
Did he seek to abolish the Jewish laws and customs?
Did murder or even harm people?
In what of the greatest ironies in history, we observe a person who was tempted to sin in every way but never gave in. Instead he led an exemplary life and taught other to do the same as well as doing a variety of different miracles to help people from different backgrounds. He was a person closely connected with God and encouraged others to do the same. He even showed himself to be the promised Messiah.
And yet, there were those who muttered against him and plotted to get rid of them.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” 21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.” 53 When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.
1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”
10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him.
These powerful people had the belief that as God’s people, there was a certain way a person should live (be very fastidious in keeping the law) and that if there were those who did not live up to their expectations, they should be avoided or worse. Here the complaint isn’t that Jesus himself was a law breaker, but that he associated with those who were. We can understand their point.
Luke (Jesus Tells the Parable of the Lost Sheep / 15:1–7 / 159)
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION There is wisdom in choosing friends wisely. Sports stars are told not to hang out with gamblers. A teenager who runs with druggies stands a good chance of becoming one. In big cities, caring parents forbid youngsters any contact with street gangs.In Jesus’ case, however, time spent with sinners was part of a mission to spread the Good News to all people. Churches today should be like an oasis in the jungle for sinners of all notorious types. Instead, they often care only for the clean-shaven and well-healed.Investigate this week what your church might do to help different, overlooked, and disreputable people hear and believe God’s message.
Are we not warned about the effects of negative peer pressure?
Would we be comfortable is our children or grand children hanged out with certain types of people?
Doesn’t the Bible say that “a little yeast leavens the whole batch”? Are we not familiar with the phrase, “One bad apple spoils the whole barrel”?
The Old Testament frequently emphasizes separation from sinners and those who worship false gods.
In the New Testament we are commanded to keep away from certain people.
17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
Jesus is not referring to the future event in our text about how he would treat tax collectors but the common practice in vogue about how the righteous Jews did not associate with certain types of people.
Jesus was certainly associating with notorious people. I think we would be concerned if our pastor (a public representative of Christ) joined a motorcycle gang or was known to frequent the local bar or associated with ex convicts or those suspected of crimes but never convicted. Our synod has certain fellowship rules that warn against worshiping with anyone who is not in complete doctrinal agreement with us. We may even look askance at those who do.
So were the Pharisees out of line in complaining about what Jesus was doing?
Well, if Jesus were being influenced by them or agreeing with their blatant rebellion against God’s law; he would have been in the wrong. The warnings against associating with those outside of God’s laws and teachings is to protect us from what they might tempt us to do.
But Jesus wasn’t there to condone their actions or to be tempted.
He openly spoke against immorality and greed (the two major sins of the sinners and tax collectors) See examples.
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Then why was Jesus welcoming sinners and eating with them?
He was doing this to influence them with the goal of bringing them to God in repentance and faith.
And many responded as intended. Many more than those who considered themselves righteous and that they did not need to repent.
Jesus’ emphasizes the joy that heaven has over those who were lost and who were found and those who came back to God realizing the discipline of God toward those who have sinned.
In the well known parable of the Lost Son (who represents the tax collectors and sinners with whom Jesus was associating to bring them to repentance), how does the father in the parable (representing God) react when his Son returns (symbolizing repentance)?
Luke 15:21–24 (NIV84)
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
This teaches us that we too are to celebrate with those who repent.
But how does the older son (representing the self-righteous Pharisees who grumbled against Jesus and plotted to kill him) react to the same event?
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”
The father’s final statement to his older son reveals the sin of the older son and God’s reaction when sinners repent.
If we are upset or angry when someone from the congregation or our family who has strayed returns in repentance, we too are to take heed.
And if we have behaved like the young son and are still wandering and caught in sin, it is not too late to repent and to find comfort in hope in God’s amazing forgiveness and joy over the sinner who repents. Amen.