Jesus, Sinners, and those Religious Leaders
WHY are we here?
At 11AM on August 28, 1963 something happened that you might say changed our country forever.
That day an estimated quarter of a million people descended on Washington DC to hear one man speak about how the world should be. The people who organized the event didn’t send out invitations. There was no website you could go to in order to check out the details, to see the speaker lineup, to find out where to park or where to stay if you were coming from out of town. No one posted about it on social media because there was no such thing as social media.
So how in the world did all these people find out about this event? How in the world did they know it was happening and all show up in the right place at the right time?
They all came that day to hear Martin Luther King, Jr. speak. They came because they believed what he believed. That something had to change. That it was time for civil rights for all people. This is WHY they gathered.
And when they came to hear Martin Luther King, Jr. speak that day, he shared a vision of a future where every person in America had the same rights and the same opportunities. And that vision of America resonated with people all over this country and still resonates today.
That vision very clearly and very powerfully reminded people what really matters.
(This illustration is shared by Simon Sinek in his TED Talk and in his book, Start With Why.)
I Have a Dream
Even today, when we hear the words, “I have a dream…” we are immediately inspired.
WHY?
Because it reminds us of how the world could be if we lived into that vision, that dream, where all people who are created equally are treated equally.
No doubt, there were other leaders back then who were trying to solve the same problems in America just like there are those who are still trying to solve similar problems in America today but have been unable to make any headway. That’s because, like many of us, when we see a problem we want to fix it. So we come up with a plan. This is the problem, this is WHAT we should do and this is HOW we should do it.
But that’s not what Martin Luther King, Jr. did. When he stood in front of the microphone that day he didn’t say, “I have a plan.” He said, “I have a dream.”
In his book, Start with Why, Simon Sinek makes this observation about Dr. King’s famous speech:
“What if Martin Luther King had delivered a comprehensive twelve-point plan about achieving civil rights in America, a plan more comprehensive than any other plan for civil rights ever offered? Booming through the speakers that summer’s day in 1963, his message would have been loud… But his belief would not have been clear.”
Sinek, Simon. Start with Why (p. 145). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t give America a plan that day, he gave us a dream. He was crystal clear about what he believed and that belief inspired millions of people.
How the World Should Be
Some 2000 years ago, Jesus had a vision of how the world should be.
And whenever he could, Jesus used stories to cast His vision of how things are supposed to be. Stories that revealed what He was up to in the world and maybe just maybe, what we should be up to in the world. And His stories always caused His hearers to ask hard questions about what they believed and what they were up to.
In Luke 15 Jesus tells this story…
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
Jesus uses this story to say, THIS is WHY I’m here! This is what I’m up to in the world. This is what God is up to in the world. I’m here to search for and find lost sheep.
Forgetting the WHY
But before Jesus tells this story, Luke sets up the scene. And listen to how Luke sets up this moment right before Jesus tells this story…
1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
Jesus tells this story in part because the Pharisees and teachers of religious law are complaining about WHO Jesus is spending time with.
WHY were they complaining? Because THEY had forgotten WHO they were and WHY they were there.
Why were they there? The Pharisees and Religious leaders were people who were looked up to in Jewish society. They were seen as people who understood the Word of God. As people who were responsible to teach the Word of God. They were there to help people know the word of God for the people of God. But many of them had forgotten who they were and why they were there. They had forgotten their purpose.
When we forget WHY we’re here things that should matter don’t matter and things that shouldn’t matter do.
They spent their lives learning, studying, and teaching the law of Moses. Why? For what purpose? If you were to ask them, they would probably have said that their purpose was to teach people and call people to repentance. But in their view calling people to repentance meant requiring people to follow their rules, their requirements, and their traditions!
They made their ways and traditions into law. Things God never said or intended to be law they made into law so it was harder for people who wanted to come God to come to God.
What if…
But what if… What if the story started with…
— Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and the religious leaders excited that someone was able to reach those who for whatever reason were far from God!
OR…
— Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and the religious leaders realize that there shouldn’t be anything they wouldn’t do to reach those who are far from God!
OR…
— Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and the religious leaders set aside their hesitations, reservations, and traditions to join Jesus in bringing people back to God!
What if… ?!?!? What if the story had started that way?
What happens for them is what happens so often for us… When we forget why we’re here things that should matter don’t matter and things that shouldn’t matter do.
Remember Your WHY
So Jesus tells them a story to remind them of their WHY.
For Jesus, calling people to repentance didn’t mean requiring people to follow their rules, their requirements and their traditions! It meant INVITING people to FOLLOW Him!
Over and over again Jesus made it crystal clear WHY He came from Heaven to Earth!
He came to SEEK and SAVE the lost. Luke 19.10
He came so that WHOEVER who believed in Him would not perish but have eternal life. – John 3.16
He came not to CALL those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent. – Luke 5.32
And we could go on and on.
So if that’s WHY Jesus came, if that’s what he was up to when he came into the world, what does that say about why we are here and what we should be up to in our world?
Do you believe in… ?
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at the table in our kitchen with my youngest daughter, Emma. She’s in third grade. And she asked me, “Dad, do you believe in Hell?”
I was still on my first cup of coffee! Her question caught me off guard and took me by surprise. I’ll be honest, Hell is not something we talk a lot about in our house. We’ve had a few conversations from time to time about Heaven and Hell, but not too many.
Before I answered her question, I really wanted to know why she was asking. Do you want to know why she was asking that question? She wanted to know what I believed about Hell because she has friends at school that don’t go to church and she was worried about them.
When we forget WHY we’re here things that should matter don’t matter and things that shouldn’t matter do.
Jesus Cares about Lost People
Here’s what I think… I think Jesus cares about lost people like my daughter cares about lost people.
Jesus didn’t care about lost people because they were his friends, though clearly many of them were and that’s one of the reasons why the Pharisees and the Religious Leaders hated him so much. Jesus cares about lost people because he created them, he knows everyone of them by name, and he loves them. So much so that he was more than willing to die for them.
But he didn’t just die for the tax collectors and sinners. He died for those Pharisees and Religious Leaders, too. He died for those who knew they were lost and those who didn’t know they were lost. He came to find all of them and bring all of them back to God.
Some of them realized how lost they were, believed in Him, and followed him. Some of them never did.
Why are you here?
When you forget why you’re here things that should matter don’t matter and things that shouldn’t matter do. And it’s easy for me and it’s easy for you to forget why we’re here. It’s why some things that won’t really matter a 1000 years from right now matter so much to us.
But what if what really mattered most a 1000 years from now is what matters most to us right now? What if what really mattered to Jesus mattered to us?
A few years after the resurrection of Jesus, there was a former Pharisee by the name of Paul who believed so deeply in the message of Jesus that he wrote these words, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” – 1 Corinthians 9.22-23
Why are we here?
We are here to share with as many people as possible by whatever means possible the good news of our God who saves.
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