Loving Pharisees

All of Luke 15—a Tale of Three Parties—is a response by Jesus to an accusation made by a bunch of Pharisees: “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Three parables of God’s literal passion for the lost, and his joy at their finding. Found sheep? Party. Found coin? Party. Found son? You guessed it…party! You’d have thought it was 1999.

But the party in the third story was a huge problem for one person, the older brother (representing the Pharisees themselves), who hadn’t squandered half his father’s life savings, thank you very much.

The thing is, if you read with care the response of the father to his older son’s anger, you read Jesus’s tenderest words to the Pharisees recorded in the Gospels.

They strike me as poignant words for us, too.

See you Sunday.

Steve+