Sinners Welcome!
Mar 27, 2025 | by Dr. Darren M. McClellan
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling…
- Luke 15:1-2
Dear Church Family,
We are just past the halfway point in this journey of Lent and by now, the accumulation of dust and dirt is really starting to show. It was always there, of course, but with each step there is growing fatigue, making it all the more difficult to keep up appearances. Those who have tried can tell you that it is hard to stay in control when following Jesus; especially on the way to the cross.
Last week we heard a series of invitations in our worship, in word and in song:
Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore…
Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, all who earnestly repent of their sin, and who seek to live in peace with God and their neighbor…
Anyone who thirsts, come to the waters…
Come…without money and without price…Incline your ear, and come to me, listen, so that you might live…
Are we yet convinced that this invitation is meant for us? Do we recognize ourselves as the poor and needy? Sick and sore? Sometimes it takes weeks of wandering in the wilderness for us to figure this out. Such is the journey of Lent.
I find direction in this witness of Dr. Clovis Chappell, a celebrated Methodist preacher from a previous era. Written as an introduction to Luke 15, these words of his were proclaimed in 1933, but ring just as true today:
“Jesus is speaking to an audience that is not made up of the morally fit. It is rather made up of those who are keenly conscious of the fact that they have made a mess of things. But they listen with wide-eyed eagerness. They press upon him as starving persons might press about one who is dispensing bread. It is easy to see that their deepest needs are being met, that dear dreams are being reborn, and hopes long dead are having a resurrection.
It is a sight, it would seem, to thrill and gladden the hearts of the most selfish and indifferent. But, strange to say, the scribes and the Pharisees are not pleased in the least. This particular group is rather filled with indignation. You can almost hear them grinding their teeth in rage. And in their anger, they spit out a criticism of Jesus that they consider absolutely damning. They do not accuse him of catering to the rich while he neglects the poor. They do not accuse him of being a religious snob like themselves.
This is their bitter accusation: This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.
And what has Jesus to say in reply? He does not answer with a hot denial while his face glows with shame. He rather accepts their accusation as absolutely true. In fact, he takes this criticism as his text and preaches the marvelous sermon that we find recorded in this fifteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Luke.”
This Sunday, we will hear more from this 15th chapter of Luke. And once again, there will be an invitation: come home. Be received. Accept the freedom and power that God has given you. Be reconciled.
These are just a few. For whoever is in Christ…
I hope to see you on Sunday. Sinners welcome!
Grace to You,
Darren