But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Luke 15:2 (NIV)

I woke up on Christmas morning before the rest of the household. Historically, this is a usual daily occurrence. As I mentioned in my last post, however, our kids and grandkids moved back from Scotland and in with us for the foreseeable future. They are still trying to adjust their biological clocks to Central Daylight Time. So, after a week of waking to grandkids fully awake and ready to party, a little quiet before the Christmas chaos was a welcome treat.

I unexpectedly found myself reading an article by a gentleman named Paul Kingsnorth published in The Free Press. An Irishman, Kingsnorth tells his story of growing up an avowed atheist and environmentalist whose path led him to Buddhism before becoming immersed in a Wiccan coven. Eventually, Kingsnorth found himself in the last place he ever thought he’d be: following Jesus in an Orthodox tradition. From the editor’s introduction:

“Here is how Paul describes himself: ‘I am an animist in an age of machines; a poet-of-sorts in a dictatorship of merchants; a believer in a culture of cynics. Either I’m mad, or the world is.’ He continues: ‘My most strongly-held belief is this: that our modern crisis is not economic, political, scientific or technological, and that no ‘answers’ to it will be found in those spheres. I believe that we are living through a deep spiritual crisis; perhaps even a spiritual war. My interest these days is what this means.’”

Kingsnorth’s story was an unexpected and meaningful start to my Christmas Day. This morning, I returned to the quiet (Keep sleeping, kiddos!) and today’s chapter. Dr. Luke begins by describing how Jesus made it a regular habit to hang out with “tax collectors and sinners.” He regularly accepted invitations to dine with wealthy tax collectors. I can’t help but think Matthew was well-networked in that particular community and helped make the introductions. This earned Jesus the judgemental critique of the good religious who self-righteously treated these “sinners” as social lepers who might sully their well-manicured and whitewashed religious facades.

Luke then records Jesus telling a trifecta of parables. The parables tell of a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. The common theme of these three parables reveals the heart of God contrasted against the attitudes of the institutions of religion represented by Jesus’ most vehement critics. Christianity is routinely criticized, satirized, and dismissed for its judgemental, often hypocritical, condemnation of both sin and sinners. In many cases, I find it well deserved.

All the way back at the beginning of the Great Story, God creates the universe and everything in it. He looks at His creation and calls it “good.” Then God caps creation off with his most beloved and intimately crafted work, Adam and Eve. He looks at His creation including humanity and calls it “very good.”

Both Jesus’ words and actions reveal the heart of the Creator. The tax collectors and sinners He dined with were the very work of His hands, beautifully and wonderfully crafted. Jesus looks at the sinners, prostitutes, and greedy tax collectors sitting around the table with Him and His heart finds that His most beloved and intimately crafted works are spiritually lost.

As Jesus tells his trinity of lost parables, He repeatedly says that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one “lost” person who is “found” than in a whole church full of faithful followers who are already in the fold.

In the quiet, my mind wanders back to Paul Kingsnorth’s story. I wander back to my own story. One of the things you’ll commonly hear in the stories of those who find Jesus is that we know it was Jesus who found us. It was Jesus who sought and doggedly pursued our lost souls.

As a disciple of Jesus, I find in His stories and actions the example He wants me to follow. It lies at the foundation of Jesus’ teaching about loving my enemies and blessing those who hate me. If they are simply condemned sinners going to hell then I will find in them what I believe to be an exemption to Jesus’ command. I will believe that I have found a loophole in Jesus’ law of love. If, however, I see those condemned sinners as Jesus sees them, as His own lost creations whom He lovingly and intimately crafted, then I will see them, think of them, speak to them, and treat them differently. I must see them as my Master sees them. I must see them as I see my former self…

“I once was lost, but now I’m found,
was blind, but now I see.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.