Luke 15:19-24
20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
The tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. N.T. Wright calls the Pharisees and scribes the “thought police” who gather around complaining that Jesus is hanging out with sinners and even shares a meal with them. In that tradition they believed that in partaking with sinners one would then become sinful, or unclean.
Jesus is doing the unthinkable. I mean what if we shared a meal with someone who held the opposite view of politics as us? Would we fear that in spending time with them they might try to influence us of their own position? Or maybe we spend time with someone we might look down upon. Maybe we look down on the pan handler on the near by corner thinking to our selves: get a job. In the 2004 movie Crash we see a white upper class couple walk by two black men dressed in baggy clothing and each party somehow looks down upon the other in some way or another. Who are the people we may rather not spend time with? Who do we surround ourselves with on a regular basis? Do we surround ourselves with people who look a whole lot like us, or people we may have a hard time relating to?
The parables that Jesus tells next are familiar stories with a unique twist for so many reasons. Jesus’ addresses the Pharisees and scribes by saying something like “Which one of you would do the job of a shepherd?” The questions is posed as a trap. None of the Pharisees and scribes would degrade themselves into doing the dirty and dangerous job of the Shepherd. Right away we have an answer to the question I have already presented: the reality is we all struggle spending time with people we have a hard time relating to. What is more convicting is the realization that if given the option, we wouldn’t spend time with those people at all.
See Part Two for what happens in the Three Parables, The Lost Ones
