This Man Receives Sinners!

“All the tax-collectors and sinners drew near to Him in order to hear Him.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying,
This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
(Luke 15:1-2)

“This man” is the Lord Jesus Christ. He, being the Eternal Son of God, became flesh. And when He came into this world of ours, He came “full of grace and of truth” (John 1:14). This infinite grace in Him drew tax-collectors (rejected and despised by the people) and sinners to Him. It was easy to have access to the Lord. He did not reject them as everyone else did. They, drawing near to hear Him, found in Him mercy, love, and grace.

The Pharisees and scribes, the self-righteous, religious leaders of the day, criticized our Lord saying, “This man receives sinners.” As if it were a charge against Him. Oh! they did not know that this very act, of which they were accusing Him, conveyed the perfection of Him who is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). But the good news is that, holy as He is, He received sinners. He did not isolate Himself from them, yet He was separate from them as regards His holy nature. He accepted them showing them ultimate mercy and grace.

The Lord’s attitude towards these rejected people, expresses, in essence, the good news of Christianity: God accepts sinners and brings them into fellowship with Himself. The Lord’s reply to the complaint of the Pharisees, was the amazing three-fold parable recorded in Luke 15: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. In another situation, saving another lost soul, the Lord Jesus said, “The Son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.” (Luke 19:10).

Out of His immense love, the Good Shepherd seeks the lost sheep until He finds it. He even sacrifices Himself for the sheep (John 10:11). And that is exactly what our Lord did when He gave Himself on the cross in order to save you and me. The Holy Spirit, using the Word of God (the lamp), seeks patiently for the lost coin until He finds it. This portrays God’s activity in seeking and finding those who are lost.

But the lost son needs to come to his senses first before he decides to go back to the Father. God longs for you to come back, but there is responsibility on your part, my friend. You need to realize that you are lost and change your mind and go back to the bosom of the Father. This is what’s called REPENTANCE. When you go back to God you will find a Loving Father waiting for you with embraces and kisses (please read Luke 15:20-24). You will enjoy real, living fellowship with God as your Father. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus did, after accepting sinners: He ate with them!

My dear reader, there is hope for you today in this good news: The Lord Jesus Christ receives sinners! Please do not do like the Pharisees who did not count themselves among “sinners” and did not want to consider themselves “lost.” If you recognize your sin, your being lost, come to the Lord Jesus now! HE RECEIVES SINNERS! He said, “Him that comes to me I will not at all cast out.” (John 6:37).