Jesus receives lost rejected souls and socially scorned people, those who have rebelled against God and selfishly hates others. He compares them to lost sheep. He receives them cordially and affectionately. He embraces them, taking them in his arms to his bosom, near his heart, as the word implies. What mercy! Jesus receives sinners in the most loving, affectionate manner and saves them unto eternal life!
Jesus is telling this to tax collectors who, of their own accord, joined what their society considered their enemy, Rome. He is telling this to the religious elite, those who publically labeled people “sinners” because they did not keep their erroneous religious rules. He is telling this to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law (scribes) who, while being the religious elite and social leaders, were rejecting the Messiah. All of them have gone astray – lost, wandering the dangerous valley alone.
Those Jesus addressed some 2,000 years ago are no different than us today. We are like Isaiah the prophet wrote, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6)
Jesus gives away a secret of heaven. He opens the curtain to see what they consider a reason to party. “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
