Fourth Sunday in Lent: Gospel, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32              

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Now this is a loaded chapter. Such classic texts. Those kinds of texts that many people, even outside the church, are familiar with. Lost sheep, coins, and kids. There is already so much comment on these portions that I do not want to miss the “setting of the table” which Luke provides. So I will focus on the first three verses of our reading. 

When we read these verses, I am not convinced that we get their full import. Just read again: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him” (15:1). It really is quite amazing. The worst of the worst. The “labels” here point to a public accounting of Jesus’ audience. They were in the eyes of the public, the ones everyone knew to be bad, bad, bad.

But they were “drawing near” to hear him. Have you ever wondered what it was that was so attractive, so winsome in Jesus that oftentimes the foulest found great comfort in His presence? We can ask that because it is ever so rare for us to see ourselves in the crowd of “the foulest.” But we are.

“God is love,” says John, the beloved. (1 John 4:8)  Perhaps so beloved because he had grappled with his foulness as well, and had found the only relief in the presence of the Savior. So too, would the “tax collectors and sinners” found in our reading. It is written, “This man (Jesus) receives sinners and eats with them” (15:2). Jesus received sinners. He did then. He does now. Those deemed to be foul in Jesus’ day as well as those found foul when we look in the mirror.

They drew near to hear him. In hearing Him they found their peace, their joy. This very day, may it be the same for us.