Are we hanging out with the wrong bunch of people?

 

An Emoji devotional for Sat, Oct 9 , 2021

Topic: Are we hanging out with the wrong bunch of people?

Take your Bible and read Luke 15

    Highlights:
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (Luke 15:7)

·        In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10) For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:24)

·        “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 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. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him! My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 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.’ (Luke 15:28 – 32)

Now the tax collectors and sinners kept gathering around to hear Jesus. The Greek grammar makes clear that this was not just a single incident; it happened time and again. The tax collectors were despised people, because they were collaborating with the Herodian and the Roman Government and as sinner was everyone viewed, who did not strictly adhered to the Jewish Law. The text basically implies that the “bad” people of the Jewish society gathered to hear Jesus to the anger of the Jewish elite and the law abiding Jews. In their opinion something had to be wrong with Jesus. He directed his message of repentance and grace to the scum. Why, for heaven’s sake, could he not address the well behaved, hardworking people like the older son in the parable? They are not only upset, but rather outraged: Jesus fraternizes with the scum of society! The whole chapter gives an answer to the complaint of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and shows at the same time the immeasurable love of the Father to every lost human being. The first parable shows the Father as a shepherd of one hundred sheep from whom one got lost. He leaves the 99 back in safety and searches for the lost one, till he finds it and can care for it. The context makes clear, that the one, who got lost, repented, whereas the 99 were people like the Pharisees and teachers of the law, who live with the conviction of being righteous. In the second parable the Father is like a woman, who lost one of her precious coins and she does everything possible to find it again. The coin may represent people who have somehow been brought into deplorable situations like abuse or lack of appropriate human support. Repentance of one such human being obviously initiates a joyful celebration in heaven. The parable of the younger and older son makes then everything clear. The younger one provokes the Father and requires, what does not yet belong to him. At the lowest point in his life he
decides to go back to his father and to admit his sin against heaven and against his father. That acknowledgment and the turning back to the Father is, what repentance means. “I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants. 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.” (Luke 15:18 – 20) His faith in the goodness of the Father redeems him and he gets born again with a new life under the benevolent reign of the Father.

His older brother, however, is full of anger over the course of the father and he blames and accuses him. “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 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. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him! My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 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.’ (Luke 15:28 – 32)

Jesus liked to talk to the tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law rather wanted to talk to well-educated and good-mannered people, who wanted to earn their salvation through immaculate performance in keeping the law. They do not need salvation, repentance or grace. They just need a trainer for reaching a more powerful performance.

Jesus was around the people who needed him. Are we around the people, who crave for change and help? Are we hanging out with the wrong bunch of people?

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven help me to make your goodness and your grace known to the people, who are open to receive your salvation in Christ Jesus. I repent for wasting time with self-righteous people. Help me to make the right decision and to live only under your guidance. Amen.