Shoo, Shoo, Get Away from Me

 

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered,

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

 Then Jesus told them this parable:

Luke 15:1-3

 

The rejected and looked-down upon of society came to hear Jesus.

Would you shoo them away?

Maybe not with words, but how often are we guilty of doing just that (at least in our thoughts if not) by our actions.

We cannot know if the Pharisees and teachers of the law were muttering loud enough that Jesus heard them or if, as in other times, He knew their thoughts.

Either way, he was prepared with a parable.

We know from our past times together that parables often hide a truth within a story in order that only the hungry would discover it.

But this parable held some bitter truths that spoke loud and clear to those who had wrongly assumed their own righteousness while holding in contempt those very sinners who had gathered around Jesus.

Jesus told them the parable of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar.

It addressed, among other things, the incorrect belief we can have about those who have wealth.

Namely that those who have great wealth or success are that way because of the blessings of God while the beggar and those (like the man born blind spoken of elsewhere in the Gospels) considered cursed find themselves that way because they are out of favor with God.

Are we guilty of those thoughts as well?

We are cautioned against it over and over in the Word.

God loves sinner and saint.

He came to die for all of us regardless of our station in life and regardless of station, we all our in need of the grace He brought.

Never look down on others and never put others on a pedestal.

I know it’s overused but it is true nonetheless, we need to always treat others as we would want to be treated.