How Great the Father's Love for Us
Tim Melton
Luke 15:11-32
In Luke 15:11-32 we find a story told by Jesus Christ. To better understand the story it would help if we understand the situation that Jesus was in when He told the story. The Bible tells us that Jesus was speaking to a group of people that were known publicly as bad or sinful people. These were the type of people who would have agreed that their lives were not good. At the same time standing nearby was a group of Pharisees. The Pharisees were the religious leaders who were very powerful. They pressured everyone to obey all their religious rules. They taught that if you didn't obey all their rules and rituals then you could not be close to God. They also taught that if a person relates with sinful people he must be sinful as well. The Pharisees' view was so extreme that they even taught to not even be with sinful people to teach them God, as Word.
Luke 15:1-2 says, ''Now the tax collectors and ''sinners'' were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ''This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.''
Now tax collectors were considered the worst of the sinners. At this time in history the Romans had power over the Jews. If a Jew wanted and had enough money they could buy a tax collecting ''franchise'' from the Roman government which would allow them to collect money from their fellow Jews on behalf of the Roman government. The tax collectors were then allowed to collect as much as they wanted as long as Rome received their part. In reality the tax collectors were almost like an Israeli Mafia who stole from their own people. Because of this they were often put out of their families, ostracized from their community and hated by everyone. But they were rich.
These were some of the people that Jesus was spending time with and the religious leaders could not understand how a supposed ''man of God'' would ever spend time with sinners like this. In ...
Tim Melton
Luke 15:11-32
In Luke 15:11-32 we find a story told by Jesus Christ. To better understand the story it would help if we understand the situation that Jesus was in when He told the story. The Bible tells us that Jesus was speaking to a group of people that were known publicly as bad or sinful people. These were the type of people who would have agreed that their lives were not good. At the same time standing nearby was a group of Pharisees. The Pharisees were the religious leaders who were very powerful. They pressured everyone to obey all their religious rules. They taught that if you didn't obey all their rules and rituals then you could not be close to God. They also taught that if a person relates with sinful people he must be sinful as well. The Pharisees' view was so extreme that they even taught to not even be with sinful people to teach them God, as Word.
Luke 15:1-2 says, ''Now the tax collectors and ''sinners'' were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ''This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.''
Now tax collectors were considered the worst of the sinners. At this time in history the Romans had power over the Jews. If a Jew wanted and had enough money they could buy a tax collecting ''franchise'' from the Roman government which would allow them to collect money from their fellow Jews on behalf of the Roman government. The tax collectors were then allowed to collect as much as they wanted as long as Rome received their part. In reality the tax collectors were almost like an Israeli Mafia who stole from their own people. Because of this they were often put out of their families, ostracized from their community and hated by everyone. But they were rich.
These were some of the people that Jesus was spending time with and the religious leaders could not understand how a supposed ''man of God'' would ever spend time with sinners like this. In ...
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