a series of parables (Luke 15: 1-3, 11 to end).
The complaint was simply, that Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them” (2). When I started to write I had intended considering the first three parables in the series, the third of which is main part of the text for today. I had even started to type a paragraph or two, but I kept returning to the first couple of verses and so decided to remain with them. I’m sure I will continue to ponder these verses throughout the week.
So, I paused and thought about that phrase — “welcomes sinners and eats with them”. I find it very powerful. Immediately, it gave rise to a couple of thoughts to muse over this week:
Who would be considered today’s tax collectors (1) and sinners?
How would I welcome tax collectors and sinners?
Yet, I found these questions quite hard to pose even hypothetically. As I considered how to phrase the questions it was difficult not to resort to “them and us” language which I dislike Even worse to “them and us” thinking which I hate even more.
All around I see far too much division into “them and us”. This thinking is present in all spheres of contemporary life, rampant in our society from political life, to career status, to psychological testing, to everyday conversations. It exposes the roots of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. The tendency for division and separation is rife.
Clearly, in the text when the Pharisees and scribes were complaining about tax collectors and sinners the implication is that they are not “us”. They are different from “us”. Jesus shouldn’t want to be associated with “them”. There needs to be a distance and a distinction between “us” and “them”.
So, three further hypothetical questions for me to ponder over the coming week are;
How can such thinking be prevented?
Even, is it possible to prevent such thinking be stopped?
Or, is it too deeply ingrained and encultured into our lives and thought patterns to be vanquished?
It is really hard to change something so deeply embedded in culture. I only have to read a newspaper or listen to a news programme or even glance through some newsfeeds on social media to see that “us and them” language permeates society.
And the final question which I’ll be musing on this week is, how do I welcome and eat with those on the margins, today’s “sinners and tax collector”? Welcoming all as “us” without even the smallest inkling of anyone being “them”. Quite a task but I think one worth pursuing.
