Luke 5:29-30 (ESV)
[29] And Levi made [Jesus] a
great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and
others reclining at table with them. [30] And the Pharisees and their scribes
grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax
collectors and sinners?”
The Pharisees and their scribes
grumbled at Jesus’ disciples. Why didn’t they talk to Jesus? Why didn’t they
ask instead of grumble? Clearly, they were there observing in some way because
Jesus answered them in the next verse.
This is typical of us. Rather
than going to the one with whom we disagree or with whom we have a problem, we
start a whisper campaign. How many times over the years have I heard, “Someone
is upset with your preaching” (or office hours, or the fact that you missed a
hospital visit, or . . .). It is almost always someone without a name. Sometimes
it is even “everyone” which almost always turns out to be a couple people who
have been talking to each other instead of talking to me. Occasionally I have
even received an anonymous letter. At least they were coming to me instead of
talking to others (I hope), but anonymity does not enable reconciliation.
Jesus said to go the person with
whom we have a problem, but we prefer to go to everyone else. Jesus said to forgive,
but we prefer to punish. Jesus said to turn the other cheek, but we prefer to
slander. It is not just in politics that we see this kind of behavior. It is in
the church. In Luke 5 it was the religious leaders who had already made up
their minds and started the whisper campaign against Jesus.
He didn’t lash out at them. He
didn’t get angry. He simply said, “I have not come to call the righteous but
sinners to repentance.” As believers in Jesus Christ, do we really want to be
like the Pharisees, or do we want to be like Jesus? Let’s stop whispering and
really listen to each other instead.
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