The opening of today’s Gospel sets the stage for three of the central parables that Jesus tells. The parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son are essential conversion Gospels, but their fullest meaning can only be grasped when we include Luke’s opening: “Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus”. The false indignation of the pharisees, the scribes and of good Christians everywhere is the prejudice of deciding who should be called worthy of salvation. Luke wants us to believe that it is Jesus who makes us worthy instead of thinking that our good deeds and pious lives make us worthy disciples. If you believe this, then your whole perspective of what it means to be a Christian changes and conforms your life to Christ.
Most preachers would equate “tax collectors” and “sinners” as synonymous. All tax collectors must be sinners, although not all sinners are tax collectors. Biblical scholars have gone to great lengths to show this is true, and maybe it was in some people’s minds in the days of Jesus. This, of course, is the second story of tax collectors in Luke’s Gospel (Zacchaeus being the first). And let us not forget that St. Matthew was also a tax collector. It would seem that “tax collector” is really an image of someone who is about to be saved instead of someone who is lost. On the other hand, “sinners” are the primary target for Jesus’ healing power—not the miracles for healing the sick, but the true conversion of those who had lost their way.
Both groups, Luke says, are “drawing near to Jesus to listen to Him”. They are not asking if He will help them; they simply want to hear Him teach. Since both of these have been pushed aside by the religious authority (along with the Samaritans) because they fail to live up to the expectations imposed upon them, it could simply be that they draw near to Jesus because He does not push them away. Maybe. But Jesus also has something to tell us about God the Father, about Himself, and about the Holy Spirit. However, unless we choose to listen to Jesus, we cannot learn what He knows.
The three parables are three examples of an extreme, even foolish amount of love and caring. They are carefully balanced parables and the three really need to be told together. The lead character in each parable is foolish in the amount of energy they expend in finding what is lost. One hero is a common worker, one a wealthy woman, and one a father with two children. Man, woman, rich, poor, common, landed gentry—carefully balanced to include every type of person. The items that are lost—a part of our work or the animal, a coin or wealth, a child—balance the three basic elements of our lives. The words used to describe what each hero does—carry the sheep on its shoulders, sweep the house in a careful search, and a father filled with compassion—show us the essential actions of God the Son, the Holy Spirit and God the Father. Each one goes to the extreme to find us, each one loves us foolishly and each one rejoices when we are found.
I want to impress upon you the importance of these parables for your spiritual growth and not as biblical exegesis. If we draw near to Jesus in order to listen to Him, if we refuse to let the world push us aside or make us feel unworthy, we will discover how much we are loved by Jesus, by the Holy Spirit and by God the Father. Only if we draw near to listen.
Peace, Fr Nick