This Man Receiveth Sinners
Luke 15:1-10
As the “publicans and sinners” gathered about Christ, the rabbis
expressed their displeasure. “This man receiveth sinners,” they said,
“and eateth with them”. By this accusation they insinuated that Christ
liked to associate with the sinful and vile, and was insensible to
their wickedness. The rabbis had been disappointed in Jesus. Why was it
that one who claimed so lofty a character, did not mingle with them,
and follow their methods of teaching? Why did he go about so
unpretendingly, working among all classes? If he were a true prophet,
they said, he would harmonise with them, and would treat the publicans
and sinners with the indifference they deserved. It angered these
guardians of society that he with whom they were continually in
controversy, yet whose purity of life awed and condemned them, should
meet in such apparent sympathy with social outcasts. They did not
approve of his methods. They regarded themselves as educated, refined
and pre-eminently religious; but Christ’s example laid bare their
selfishness.
It angered them also that those who showed only contempt for the
rabbis and who were never seen in the synagogues should flock about
Jesus and listen with rapt attention to his words. The scribes and
Pharisees felt only condemnation in that pure presence. How was it then
that publicans and sinners were drawn to Jesus? The Pharisees knew not
that the explanation lay in the very words they had uttered as a
scornful charge, “This man receiveth sinners”. The souls who came to
Jesus felt in his presence that, even for them, there was escape from
the pit of sin. The Pharisees had only scorn and condemnation for them;
but Christ greeted them as children of God, estranged indeed from the
Father’s house, but not forgotten by the Father’s heart. And their very
misery and sin made them only the more the objects of his compassion.
The further they had wandered from him, the more earnest was the
longing, and the greater the sacrifice for their rescue.
All this the teachers of Israel might have learned from the sacred
scrolls of which it was their pride to be the keepers and expounders.
Had not David written; David, who had fallen into deadly sin, “I have
gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant”? (Psalm 119:176). Had
not Micah revealed God’s love towards the sinner, saying, “Who is a God
like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the
transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His
anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy” (Micah 7:18).
Bro. Jackson Nyakambiri (Mvuwi, Zimbabwe)
