Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable…
If you ask some people what time it is, they will tell you how to build a clock. The message of that aphorism is that the simple answer is usually the best and time-saving reply. Here Luke says that Jesus responded to this slight from the Pharisees and scribes. “So he told them this parable.” Actually, he told three and the third one was a doozy! The first two talked about lost sheep and coins, not really what they were talking about, they could have said. Then came the third one. The Prodigal Son parable is a great story of a bad boy becoming good. Except that does not really answer his opponents either. There must be something else going on and it is all about the older brother. The Pharisees and scribes were being the older brother, thinking they deserved the father’s inheritance because of their goodness and service.
The first two verses of chapter 15 tell us how Jesus exposed the hypocrisy and self love the leaders had. He could just as easily say it to so many Christians in America. Jesus pointed to the irony that, just as the Prodigal knew the father better, the tax collectors and sinners knew Jesus better than the religious ones. Our churches need more tax collectors, sinners, and prodigals who know the love and mercy of Jesus and cannot live without him. Let that be us today.
Dear Lord, thank you for the parables of Jesus that point out our sin. Help us live them out. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church