This is the Gospel: that this Man, Jesus, receives sinners and eats with them. They don’t deserve it; you don’t deserve it. It doesn’t matter to Him: He wants to receive you; He wants to eat with you; He wants to be with you. He would rather be with repentant tax-collectors and sinners than with the most pious and holy-looking of all the Pharisees and scribes. He would rather be with you—you, who confess that you are a poor, miserable sinner, than with those who try and pretend that they’re not or that they’re not nearly as bad as some. To Him, you are the sheep who has gone astray, the one He has diligently sought to recover; that’s what He thinks about you. This is, of course, good to remember, especially when you recall all of the times that you have gossiped, and shame and remorse for doing so sweep over you -- as it should. Nevertheless, know that in spite of your failure to refrain from gossip, in spite of your many and numerous sins, in spite of your propensity to stray from the safety of your Shepherd, He is still not ashamed of you: not at all, not in the slightest, not in the least. O, thanks to God that Jesus doesn’t gossip the way you do; far from it: He has received you into His house; He feasts with you; He gives to you His own Flesh and Blood—under bread and wine—here, in the Supper, as a pledge and guarantee of how He thinks about you. Beloved, He cares for you.
Readings:
Old Testament: Micah 7:18-20
Epistle: 1 Peter 5:6-11
Holy Gospel: Luke 15:1-10
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