Being an Authentic Follower of Jesus:
Tearing Down and Rebuilding Worldviews
Luke 15:1-10
July 26, 2009
I want to talk to you today about worldviews. A worldview is the lens with which you see, understand, and interpret the world. In this passage, Jesus addresses two different groups of people with two different worldviews, which determines how they see themselves, Jesus as well as understand and respond to his message.
1. Two Groups and Two Worldviews
The first two verses are key to understanding the rest of the chapter. The key hinges on who is in the crowd and how they hear these parables. The first group is made up of tax collectors and sinners. Some of us grew up learning about tax collectors in Sunday school. Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he, and so he climbed up in a Sycamore tree because the Lord he wanted to see. And we were told that a tax collector was a man who was supposed to get $25 from you but instead he takes $30 from you because he wanted to get rich. That’s a good story but that is not true. In the minds (worldview) of the Pharisees and Scribes, Zacchaeus was a worthless piece of trash who, on his best day deserved to burned alive.
At this time in history, the world, from India to England, was ruled by Rome. Rome was a ruthless and horrendous government. In fact, there are historical accounts of Rome conquering a city and then taking 20,000 men, women, and children, stripping them naked and then crucifying them on the road leading up to that city for up to 40 miles. Everyone going into that city for supplies, to see family, or to work, would have to pass by 20,000 suffering, dying or dead men, women, and children who have been stripped of their clothes as an act of shame to intimidate you - don’t mess with Rome. Now if you rule from India to England at that time the only way you can govern a landmass that size is with a massive army. But Rome’s population could not supply that massive of an army so as they conquered land, they hired mercenaries and gave them food, weapons and training to become part of the legions of Rome, despite the fact that they were not Romans. Well, how do you fund, supply, feed, and train such a massive army - taxes. Zacchaeus was a Jew who purchased the right from Rome to raise funds for an oppressive occupying army that was responsible for the brutal death of hundreds of thousands of people. As a tax collector, he was considered a traitor, despised by his fellow Jews. It would be like you living next door to a man who had single-handedly funded the murder of your loved ones and it being legal. But tax collectors are drawing near to hear Jesus. They’re not the only ones, sinners are there too. Here “sinner” is marked as a class of people who are deformed, diseased or whose job is one that the Jews would have considered irreparable. They were the prostitutes, strippers, slave traders, tax collectors or they had some kind of physical ailment that the Jews viewed as a curse from God. Remember the story where the Pharisees brought the blind man to Jesus and asked, “Was it his parent’s sin or his?” And Jesus said, “Neither, but that God might be glorified,” and He heals him. But the Jews see that he’s blind because God hates and cursed him. Or there’s the woman who had the issue of blood or the lepers, any one of these diseases would have been marked them as unclean and their disease would have been viewed by the culture as a judgment from God.
Yet the tax collectors and the sinners are drawing near to hear Jesus. Here’s the punch line - the tax collector and the sinner would have been taught from the day they were born that they were outcasts. They were taught that God had judged them, there was no chance of forgiveness, they would have a meeting with God one day, and it was not going to be pleasant. They’re not allowed in the synagogue, they’re not allowed to make sacrifices, they’re not allowed to hear the Torah read. They are absolutely ostracized from the religious life of Israel. Yet here they are gathering near to hear Jesus. I don’t know what your story is, but some of us have or are sinning to such an extent that we began to embrace this world-view of “Well, I’m not the type of person God goes after, so I might as well just dive head-long into sin.” “I’ve already blown it so we begin to say, “Okay, God’s for that type of person, and I’m not that type of person. I’ll run from Him rather than to Him.”
Now the tax collectors and sinners aren’t the only ones with Jesus. You also have Pharisees and scribes – they’re at the other end of the spectrum - grumbling that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them. They’re the varsity Evangelicals. They have seven fish on the back of their chariots. They only listen to Hebrew music and the best Torah teachers. They live in such a way that is so morally upright that they believe that their moral uprightness has curried God’s favor that God will not extend to those in the other group. So they expect this favor and relationship with God that others are not going to get because they’ve been good. But instead of coming to Jesus, they are becoming increasingly hostile toward Him and his message because he is readily and graciously accepting the tax collectors and sinners into his circle way too easily. They deserved to be rejected not accepted.
2. Tearing Down a ‘Religious Worldview’ and Rebuilding a ‘Kingdom Worldview’
So Jesus begins to deconstruct their worldviews and construct a kingdom worldview. The first parable is about a shepherd with one hundred sheep. One gets lost so he leaves the 99 to get that one lost sheep because that one is worth finding. It is important to note that the sheep does not find him but he finds the sheep. When he finds the sheep, he does not scold the sheep, ‘bad sheep,’ but picks him up, throws him on his back, and rejoices. The focus is not on how bad the sheep is (although that is true) but on how happy he is that he found it. He is tearing down both worldviews – that no one is too bad to be accepted if they repent; and that there is no joy in heaven over any self-righteous sheep who don’t think they need to repent. That is why the tax collectors and sinners are drawn to Jesus even though discipleship is demanding. They have hope because he is telling them that his kingdom is not like the religious system that says they are beyond hope. That is why the Pharisees hate him. And he has been telling them all along that they are just as sinful as the tax collector and sinner and they need to repent.
This point is so important that he moves right into another parable teaching the same point. A woman had ten coins, which is ten days worth of wages and she loses one of those coins. You could think that she had no worries in a culture that lived day to day; you’re ok, don’t trouble yourself with that one coin. But she goes on a search, tearing the place apart until she finds it. The coin is worth going after it until she finds it. When she finds it, she gathers her friends and neighbors to celebrate. I don’t know what your story is but no one is ever beyond hope; they have not sinned so badly that God will not seek them out and find them because they are his sheep and his coins. He will go out of his way to go through Samaria to meet a woman at a well who most of us would either run from or despise and condemn her because of her lifestyle but Jesus brings her life. God seeking and saving the lost is central to his mission and to ours.
Four encouragements:
Pray everyday that God would give you good opportunities and power to commend Christ. And pray that he will be preparing others to be open. (Romans 10:1).
Portray Christ by the way you love others and by the humble integrity of your work. (Matthew 5:16).
Persuade those who are willing to talk and who have questions. (2 Corinthians 5:11).
Plead with those for whom God gives you a special affection and longing. (Acts 26:29).
