Isaiah 53:6 says,
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way; and the Lord hath laid on him (Jesus Christ) the iniquity of us all."
This week, Michael writes the in Luke 15:1-7 Jesus told a story about
sheep: “Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to
hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man
receives sinners and eats with them.” So He spoke this parable to them,
saying: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is
lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on
his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends
and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep
which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in
heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need
no repentance.”
Jesus
was speaking to two groups of people. The first group is the tax collectors
and the sinners. These people were despised and rejected by the "politically
correct" culture. The second group is the Scribes and the Pharisees.
These were the respected people of their culture. Jesus spent time and
even ate with the publicans and the sinners, the outcasts of the normal
mainstream of society. Zacchaeus was the chief tax gatherer with whom
Jesus shared a meal. Jesus ministered to a woman caught in the act of adultery,
when he said to the crowd who was about to stone her, "he who is without
sin may cast the first stone." Jesus met with a Samaritan outcast
woman at Solomon’s well. The Jews hated the Samaritans, whom they
considered half-breeds and second class citizens. However, Jesus said to
her, "whoever drinks of the living water shall never thirst."
The
Pharisees said that Jesus is "soft on sin." The sinners he
associated with would never be welcomed in their proper houses of
worship. Jesus played a game of "hide and seek" with the
Pharisees and the leaders of the church. The one who hides calls the
shots. The seeker puts themselves in the humble position of finding the
one who is trying to evade him. The one who seeks is "it." This
is a position of humility and lowliness. The goal of hide and seek is to
avoid being "it." At the end of the game, "it" says,
"Ollie Ollie Oxen Free, if you don't come it you'll be." This
means that it's safe to come home. This is a cry of grace to those who
were hiding.
The
story of the lost sheep is a story of hide and seek. Jesus himself is
"it" looking for those who are hiding. Some churches are
"seeker sensitive." Seeker sensitive churches are focused on the
human perspective. People are restless until they find their place in God.
No one is satisfied without God. God created mankind to seek
transcendence. When the seeker comes to the Lord, the irony is that the
seeker wasn't really seeking the Lord, rather the Lord was seeking them. Who
is the one who hides from God? It's the person who is running from the truth. This
is the man who seeks the pleasures of the flesh or the woman who is angry
because her life is closing in on her. Hiding from God looks like apathy
and moral laxity.
Let's continue Michael's message about "hide and seek" on the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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