Luke 15:1-7 and God's Obnoxious Mercy

Observation: The Pharisees and scribes have done everything right. They've lived clean, they've taught God's law to anybody who will listen, and they've done everything they can to help their fellow Jews take pride in themselves, Roman occupation notwithstanding. In a way, they are revolutionaries in their own right: in the Jewish diaspora, part of the point of teaching personal purity was so Jews didn't have to go to the expense and effort of walking all the way down to Jerusalem, and paying an arm and a leg to participate in temple sacrifice, in a big ornate building built by Herod, and staffed by collaborators with Rome. We can do this purity thing by ourselves!
You can imagine, then, how infuriating it would be to see a well-read and well-respected rabbi dining with tax collectors: Jews who squeezed other Jews for Roman profit, keeping for themselves whatever they collected over and above the Roman quota! How can this man show tacit approval of this messed up system? Surely there are limits???

Application: So, I'm an oldest child. I have three younger sisters.   And for anyone who grew up with siblings, I know you can relate to the constant comparisons and score-keeping. "She got this!" "He didn't have to do that!" "Why isn't she getting punished for this?"

My kids are 5 and 8, and this game is already in full swing. Today, Baltimore County Schools, in its infinite wisdom, decided that it's a teacher conference day for kindergarten and Pre-K, but not for all other grades. Which means right now, my 3rd grader is at school and my kindergartener is watching cartoons in his PJ's. You can imagine how that went down.

I'm seeing this same score-keeping on a much larger scale in our nation, as we struggle with things like what a living wage looks like, and whether basic health care is a human right for all. Too often, the conversation is about our comparative value as human beings: "I worked for this! Why should they get it for free?"

Without being drawn into a policy debate, for followers of Jesus at the outset, it's worth noting that score-keeping and comparisons of relative value are contrary to the Gospel. Jesus ministered not based in merit or worthiness, but need. And thank God that he did, because in the grand scheme, none of us are worthy of God's saving mercy on our own merits. Comparing our relative sins without seeing how far short we fall of God's glory is like an ant priding himself on being taller than another ant, and therefore closer to the moon.

I certainly don't have answers for all our problems as a society. But I do know that the Christian community reflects Jesus and his Father most closely when we rescue God's sheep not because they are worthy but because they are lost.

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for saving me, disregarding my unworthiness. Amen.