Pour Over Thursdays: one cup, one passage, one honest conversation about Jesus. Week 13.
The Pour
Some of the truest things ever said about Jesus were said by people trying to insult Him. This week's passage is two verses long, and it launched three of the most famous stories He ever told.
The Passage
Luke 15:1-2. The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus. And the Pharisees and scribes grumbled: this man receives sinners and eats with them. In response, Jesus tells the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
The Devotion
Sit with the accusation for a minute. This man receives sinners and eats with them. The religious leaders meant it as an indictment, proof that Jesus was careless about holiness. They could not have known they were writing the one-sentence summary of the entire gospel. Two thousand years later, their complaint is our comfort. He receives sinners. He eats with them. That is the whole ministry, and the whole hope.
Notice also who was drawing near. Luke says all the tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear Him, which raises a question worth asking honestly: what was it about Jesus that made the least religious people in town want to be close to Him? He never softened the truth. He called sin sin. And yet sinners packed in close while the professionally holy stood back and grumbled. Somehow His holiness attracted the very people ours tends to repel.
Jesus did not answer the grumble with a defense. He answered with three stories about a shepherd, a woman, and a father, each one turning the house upside down over something lost, each one ending in a celebration. The eating was not a lapse in His standards. It was the found party, already underway.
Table Questions
- Why did sinners want to be near Jesus while the religious grumbled?
- Does your faith draw people in or hold them at a distance?
- What would it look like to receive someone this week?
The Last Sip
They said it to shame Him. We print it on the invitation: this man receives sinners and eats with them.
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