Our text for today is the Gospel reading as well as these words from our Epistle, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer…Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.”
So I’m sure most of us here have found ourselves playing what I call the “what am I” game with a child. This is the game where you are asked to identify the animal or whatever else the child might be impersonating. Now as we know, sometimes the game proves to be quite easy; especially when there are sounds involved. For example if they bark, you know they are a dog. If they roar, you know they are a lion. But have you ever experienced playing that game when they make no noise, providing no hints by way of sound? Sure, they might shape their bodies and maybe move a certain way, but without the noise, guessing correctly becomes more difficult. What would a spider look like as a child with four limbs? Or an ant? And of course, the child doesn’t understand what the problem is. “I mean come on, it’s so obvious”. They may even begin to get frustrated if you don’t guess right.
Ultimately, they are asking that your imagination take you beyond their physical appearance, to look past the fact that they are a child rolling around on the ground, to see something else. But can we always get past the outward appearance?
I think our Gospel reading challenges us in much the same way. But it will be a challenge of the heart, not of our imaginations.
The Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Now was their statement true? I guess when it comes down to it, there’s really no debating it; it was absolutely true. Even more so in the days of Jesus. You see, for Jesus to sit down with tax collectors and known sinners for a meal was more than just having a conversation with them. It reflected a relationship; it implied that there was a mutual acceptance.
The Pharisees certainly had that much right. However, I think what the parable shows us is that the term “sinner” does not encapsulate the whole person. Though the Pharisees could not see past that reality, there was in fact more to them than met the eye.
“When this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” In the parable Jesus told the Pharisees, we see that the older brother was challenged in much the same way. All he could see when looking at his brother was according to the flesh; the sin he had committed against his father in such a grievous way. “Your son.” It seems that the older brother no longer even saw his younger brother at all. He had become to him an outsider. For him, the sin had completely redefined who his brother was in relation to himself. But listen to the Father’s response: “It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.”
How do we see one another? Now those with whom we have no problem, its very easy. As Christ says in the Gospel of Luke, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?” There is very little challenge. But how do you see those who have sinned against you? Can the strength of your heart match the greatness of your imagination? Do you ever really see beyond the sinning flesh, to see what they truly are: beloved children of God?
This is what allowed Jesus to receive the tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees saw only the outward sinfulness of the people. And if that is all they were, if that alone is what defined them, then Jesus would have had no business sitting down with them. However, Jesus was able and willing to see beyond the categories set up by the Pharisees.
Instead, He received those who came to Him; those who desired to hear the Word, and He received them as God’s children. And when the Pharisees questioned the appropriateness of Christ’s response to these sinners, He shared with them one of the greatest parables ever told. When the Pharisees desired that Jesus speak words of condemnation, Christ pointed to a Heavenly Father who embraces His children. When the Pharisees wanted Christ to treat them as the sinners they were, Jesus pointed to the Heavenly Father who knows all creation as His own. In fact, he wouldn’t even entertain the idea of a son becoming a slave.
Bit it wasn’t just the tax collectors and sinners they had wrong; they misunderstood Who Jesus was. They regarded Him according to the flesh. They couldn’t see beyond Jesus’ humble beginnings, to see the fullness of God dwelling among them. And as we know this would only get worse as they watched the very One who claimed to be the Son of God be crucified. We read in Isaiah, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted.” For those who stood there and watched our Lord quietly walk to His humiliating death, could they see beyond the flesh, could they see Who Jesus was, and what Jesus was doing?
In order to correct their misunderstanding, when asked to justify His own actions, He gives a parable showing them our Heavenly Father. Christ was not doing His own work, but the work of the One who sent Him. Whatever accusation was being made against Jesus was ultimately an accusation against God. Paul writes in our Epistle, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
In and through Christ we are embraced by our Heavenly Father. Jesus came to earth to be the gentle hands of the Father. He came that we might be embraced through His hands, the very ones that were pierced for us. Jesus came to call and receive what belonged to the Father.
Luther had a maid in his house named Elizabeth, who, contrary to his wishes, left his service and became so wicked that she gave her soul to the devil. Not long after, she was stricken with a serious disease and became very despondent. At her request Luther was called to her bedside. When he arrived, Elizabeth confessed to him that she felt sorry for what she had done and also revealed to him her greatest grief, namely, that she had given her soul to the devil. “That is nothing,” replied Luther. “Listen, if you had given all my clothes to a stranger when you were still in my service, would that have been a valid transaction?” “No,” answered the maid. “Well,” Luther replied, “Your soul does not belong to the devil, but to Jesus, your Lord. You cannot give away what does not belong to you. Go therefore to your Lord and ask Him to receive again what belongs to Him; but cast the sin that you have committed back on the devil, because that belongs to him.” The maid did as Luther advised and soon thereafter was found calm and happy.
In Christ we clearly see that we belong to our Heavenly Father. In His death, we see the extent of our Father’s love. But in Christ we also see others in a new light. We see the sinner not as belonging to Satan, but as needing the forgiveness and compassion that is God. We see our own enemies as beloved, in need of the same life-giving message we ourselves have received. And now it is your hands with which our Lord embraces others. “Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
In order that we might be Christ’s ambassadors, we must regard no one according to the flesh. At times, this will be difficult to do. We will struggle to see past another’s sin. Our hearts and minds will be challenged to look beyond the flesh, to see what truly defines them, and to whom they truly belong.
“What am I?” At times, whether we are asked that question, or are the ones asking it, it might not always be the easiest thing to answer. Too often, our sins just get in the way. Yet God looks at all of us as children returning to Him after a long time in a distant country. In Christ, He embraces us as His children. This is who we are. It is who God has made us, and as He has always seen us. AMEN.
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