His teachings were astonishing, amazing.... but more than that this preacher, Jesus, was happy to come to us, to sit with us, the outcasts, long ago rejected by polite society we would gather together for friendship and for comfort.
We were a motley bunch, shunned by the Pharisees and their followers, we were tax collectors, and prostitutes, lame and blind beggars, and ordinary people who struggled to live up to the Pharisees demands, finding more acceptance from the outcasts than from the religious leaders.
He taught through stories, wonderful stories, and spoke with such compelling warmth that we clamoured for more. He was with us that afternoon when the Pharisees came sweeping into our part of town, looking for him, when they found him sitting amongst us telling stories they started muttering and tutting. I guess they'd hoped to find him chastising us for our wicked ways, not sitting at our tables sharing our bread!
He heard the muttering, and the tongue clicking, as they growled, meaning to be heard; , "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." Their grumbling triggered these stories;
"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbours, saying, celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.
"Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbours: celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God."
Strange stories, we mused for a while about what he meant when he went on to speak about a son who had left home, having shockingly asked his father for his share of the family inheritance. Such rebellion shocked all of us! "The young man frittered away his fortune on wild living" said Jesus...
The Pharisees eyes bored holes in our backs, their stares were so intense, our so called wild living was about to be challenged...
...the young man, having spent his fortune took a job feeding pigs! PIGS!!! But soon hungry and desperate he hatched a plan to return home....
We were all hanging upon his every word! The Pharisees waiting for the punch line- the young man would be received, but required to live as a servant until his debts were paid in full!!!
But no, that was not the ending, we listened amazed as Jesus described a father who, as soon as he saw him in the distance, threw caution to the wind, abandoned all thought of pride, ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and welcomed him home.
The message was clear, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the wayward son were all valuable, none of them forgotten! The Pharisees clearly unhappy at his message left as swiftly as they had arrived, while we slowly realised that he had come to seek us out, us, out here on the fringes of society, he considered us valuable, worth welcoming, worth preparing a banquet for!
Who was this man with a message of acceptance, some were declaring him to be the Messiah, but the Messiah wouldn't come to us....would he?
