Jesus is Coming to Dinner Tonight. Who Do You Invite?

Jesus is coming to dinner tonight. Do you invite Charlie, the alcoholic petty thief uncle who you haven't seen since he needed bail money last year, or do you invite Amanda, the innocent and proper friend from bible study? Much to mother's dismay, Jesus would prefer Uncle Charlie. Jesus' purpose is with the sinners as a guide to God. He is not concerned with those already with God. In the Gospel According to Luke, Jesus uses a string of parables to illustrate his purpose as a prophet, and God's messenger, and as a guide to the people. Luke's gospel preaches tolerance of gentiles and other oppressed groups and is concerned with social ethics. The author, Luke, begins his gospel by addressing it to a figure noted as Theophilus. Scholars contend that Theophilus, meaning loved by God, may be a figure of Luke's creation. The gospel, a well laid out historical account of Jesus' life and death, is a reference for the readers who need to defend their faith. The Jesus Eats with Tax Collectors and Sinners Parable and the Parable of the Lost Sheep exemplify and clarify Jesus' message.

In the Jesus Eats with Tax Collectors and Sinners parable (Luke 15:1-2) Jesus is surrounded by a crowd (Luke emphasizes this with the use of "all" - Luke 15:1) of less than upstanding citizens. They are gathered about him to not only hear him preach but to eat and fraternize with Jesus and this angered the Pharisees. The Pharisees, interpreters of the law and the heads of society, did not like the people's attraction to Jesus. They tried to trap Jesus in his own message and to somehow dethrone him. When they saw Jesus with the "unclean" people - sinners - and that he invited their company, the Pharisees considered this ammunition against him. Jesus' account of the Lost Sheep parable (Luke 15:3-7) as it is written by Luke is unclear to whom it is addressing. It is likely that Jesus is addressing the tax collectors and sinners before him with an added benefit of answering the Pharisees' attack on his character. A shepherd finds that one of his one hundred sheep have gone astray; he leaves the ninety nine and goes looking for the one until he finds it and carries it back on his shoulders. Jesus uses sheep and shepherds because this is a very relatable metaphor for the time. Jesus ends the parable by pointing out that the shepherd rejoices with friends and neighbors when he locates the lost sheep.

This rejoicing is echoed in Luke 15:11-32 in the parable of the Prodigal Son, a parable unique to the Gospel of Luke. The stray sheep represents a stray believer that is coaxed away from God. The shepherd, a conspicuous reference to Jesus, leaves his ninety nine good sheep to find and bring back the lost one. The shepherd's happiness is relatable to Jesus' listeners; it is natural to want to find something lost and to exult at its return. The return of the lost sheep is an event to rejoice because every reunion with God should be celebrated. This parable is Jesus' justification for spending time with the spiritually sick, those lost to God, rather than those already on the right path. Not only is it the shepherd's choice to dispatch himself into the wilderness for one stray, but it is his responsibility to protect and keep his whole herd. The parable establishes Jesus' relationship with sinners and God's dedication to the lost. The shepherd is most concerned for the one sheep lost in the "wilderness" (Luke 15:4).

This parable is reincarnated in the Prodigal Son parable (Luke 15:11-32) where a man's sinner son seeks forgiveness from the father he disgraced. Rather than be angry, the father rejoices at his son's return. The father accepts his son return even while he was "still a great way off" (Luke 15:20). God rejoices when sinners repent. When the older son expresses outrage that his disgraceful brother has not only returned but has been accepted readily back into the household by his father, he yells at his father. The older son does not understand why his father would celebrate his brother's return when he, the faithful son, had remained home and supported and followed his father and never complained. The father replies that "Son you are always with me" but that it is important to understand and celebrate his brother's rebirth: "It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found." (Luke 15: 31). This story illustrates God's compassion, patience, and his diligent search for the lost and it mirrors the Lost Sheep parable. Jesus concludes this message with another story, this time about a woman and a lost coin (Luke 15: 8-10). In the parable the woman has only ten coins meaning that she is very poor. She loses one coin, a drachma, and she searches painstakingly for it. She lights a lamp and sweeps the house until she finds the coin. Again, in this parable, when the lost is found there is cause of rejoice. Neighbors and friends are called to celebrate the reunion of one coin, which is maybe insignificant to others but to the woman it was enough to thoroughly search for and to celebrate. Every sinner's repent is cause for God to call heaven to celebrate.

These parables in Luke are important for defending Jesus and to explain his mission. Jesus is the shepherd, the woman, and the father. Every lost sheep, coin, or son is worth leaving the rest of his flock and looking for. God accepts those that repent and rejoices in their return to Him. Luke's readers can use these parables to explain why it is important to help the sinners - those that are stray - rather than the healthy followers.