9-9-19 - Sinners or Saints?

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

What is it about religious people that can makes us so quick to judge others? This week we learn that, “All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.” This didn’t sit well with the religious leaders: “And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”

Why are “tax collectors” and “sinners” lumped together in the Gospels? Tax collectors of Jesus’ time were no mild-mannered IRS accountants. They made a living collecting taxes for the Romans from their fellow Jews. As such, they were collaborators with a hated regime and enforcers of cruel and often capricious extortion. The Romans didn’t pay them – they allowed them to tack on a “fee” or surcharge. The meaner and tougher they were, the higher the “fee” they commanded. Tax collectors were easy to loathe.

Yet Jesus invited one of these, Matthew, to be a disciple. He had dinner at the home of another, Zaccheus. He seemed to be a magnet for them – and he didn’t just eat with them. He invited them to repent and be renewed. Many experienced profound transformation, as did other “sinners” who hung around with Jesus. Who better to hang out with than someone who talks about forgiveness and the love of their heavenly Father? Who better to have dinner with than someone who treats you as a human being despite the despicable way you’ve treated others?

In this 15th chapter of Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells three stories about things that are lost: a sheep, a coin, a son (or two…). Today, let’s look at who he was talking to: the Pharisees and scribes. They weren’t bad people either. Pharisees deeply loved the Law of Moses and sought to live lives of great holiness. In the process, they often became self-righteous, judgmental, and tipped into a compassionless legalism that – Jesus felt – caused them to focus on nitpicking sins at the expense of God’s greater command to care for the poor and defenseless. The scribes were temple leaders, and regulated the apparatus of worship and sacrifice. They had limited power under Roman authority, and like many such people, often tried to make others feel even more powerless.

So we have, on the one hand, notorious sinners and low-lifes, and on the other, hypocritical and arrogant “holy” people. 

If all the low-lifes were in one room, and all the religious people in another, and you HAD to pick one, which room would you go in? Why? What would you say to those gathered in each room?

What kind of people do you find yourself judging, even condemning (we all do it… let’s just bring it to the surface so we can look at it…). Think of some examples of individuals or groups. Bring them to mind. Now bring Jesus into that picture. What does he do? Say? How do you feel?

What kind of people do you feel are hypocritical? How do you suppose they got that way?
Think of some examples of individuals or groups. Bring them to mind. 

Now bring Jesus into that picture. What does he do? Say? How do you feel?

You know how I respond when people say, “I don’t go to church – it’s full of hypocrites?”
I say, “There’s always room for one more…”

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Sunday’s readings are  here.