But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:2 NIV)
What is your type?
Do you prefer the Pro V1 or the Pro V1x? TaylorMade, Calloway, or a Ping driver? Steel or graphite shafts in your irons? A blade or mallet putter? I could go on. If you are serious about golf, you likely have your preferences and might even be a little snobbish about it.
Some are reading this who, even if I offered you free golf balls for a year, you would not play with them even if they were the same make and model you like if they were yellow instead of white. The purist in you could not be seen playing a brightly colored golf ball.
That seems a little extreme to some of you, but many know what I am talking about because most golfers have a type. People, in general, have a type. We have a type when it comes to things, and we most certainly have a type when it comes to people. As the saying goes, “Birds of a feather flock together.”
Conservatives like being around other conservatives and viewing only conservative news. People of a certain religious tradition are usually attracted to other people of their tradition. They are not very likely to attend a service different from that to which they are accustomed.
But what about God? Does he have a type?
Your answers to that question may vary considerably depending on your faith journey. If you were raised by religious parents who taught you to abstain from all sinful things, regardless of whether you have had a few rebellious years, you likely have a certain type of person in your mind that you are picturing as God’s type.
On the other hand, some of you who did not grow up in religion or completely rejected your parents’ faith might be a little “rougher around the edges” and possibly have never felt like you fit in with the religious crowd and question if you could ever be God’s type.
Regardless of which direction you are approaching God from, you might be surprised to learn about God’s type. Today’s verse was set up by the following, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus” (Luke 15:1). Luke then proceeds to tell three parables that Jesus taught in response to the religious teachers scoffing at who he welcomed and ate with.
These stories are often referred to as The Parable of the Lost Sheep, The Parable of the Lost Coin, and The Parable of the Lost Son. It turns out that the people we are inclined to think of as God’s type are not his type.
From these parables, it is safe to conclude that God does have a type. He loves lost people.
I should correct that. God loves lost people who know they are lost. Being lost is no fun, but one thing worse than being lost is being lost and not knowing it.
Jesus came to save the world with a gospel of repentance. His gospel was not overly religious and was not for the self-righteous. To repent means to think differently and turn in the other direction. Jesus provides a way for all people, religious or not, to God. He invites us to turn from our way and follow his.
Prayer: Father, thank you for providing a way to you regardless of my past and religious history. Thank you for the gospel of Jesus and his message of repentance.