Would We Ever?

 In the Gospel of Luke (15:1-10), this sentence stopped me in my tracks: 

"The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'"

Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?  Scribes and Pharisees, religious men, complaining about Jesus associating with sinners?  The very sinners he has come to save?  How is he supposed to reach sinners if he separates himself from them?

I started wondering.  Is this still a problem today, holy people complaining to Jesus about others? 

Let's see:

Would we ever complain about people who only come to church at Christmas and Easter and take our seats?

Would we ever look sideways at people who come to church with purple hair, tattoos, nose rings or dirty clothes?

Or criticize people who seem irreverent, who don't know the right words or actions?

Would we every complain to God about parents of noisy children disrupting our quiet time with him?

Yikes! We may not have the title of scribe or pharisees, but that doesn't mean we don't act like them sometimes.  

How quickly we move from being holy men and women to sinners.

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.blogspot.com