“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

We’re all so familiar with the story of the prodigal son.  Many Christians, when they hear this story, identify with the prodigal son.  After all, we began this communion service asking God to forgive us for the times we have failed to obey His commands.  And it’s comforting to know that God is always ready to forgive our offenses.  But I think there are other characters in this story that might be a better match for us.

The parable of the prodigal son is not addressed to the sinners.  They’re in it, of course, but Jesus is speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees here: “The Pharisees and scribes began to complain,” says the Gospel, because Jesus was hanging out with sinners.  The Pharisees were all about following the laws of Torah.  The Pharisees were the good, law-abiding people of their day, like us.  They scrupulously obeyed the law.  The scribes were like our priests and theologians, who studied the law and explained it to the people.  Pharisees and scribes naturally associated with other good people, as we do.

We’re the good people, and we avoid the sinners.  I’m a law-abiding Catholic, and I don’t consort with drug addicts, con artists, boozers, obvious bigots, people who boast about what they can get away with, and so on.  A member of my family was once deeply involved with a woman who was a thief and prostitute; the rest of us did not want her or her dealers anywhere near our home.  That’s how the Pharisees felt, too.  They avoided sin and sinners.

Jesus didn’t avoid the shady people.  Someone at St. Catherine’s once remarked that if Jesus came to Ithaca today, he wouldn’t be at St. Catherine’s.  He’d be down at the Jungle, the homeless area near the tracks. Or he’d be someplace like the commons or in a bar where he could meet all sorts of people, not just the good people.  Why?  Because God is the father of all people, and in Christ we are all at least potentially brothers and sisters.  But we can’t be brothers and sisters if some of us avoid the others and shun them.

Jesus came to call sinners, who behave badly, to repentance.  Now obviously Jesus is not asking us to hug the pickpocket or to invite the burglar to dinner or to enjoy the bigot’s jokes.  We have to defend ourselves and stand up for what is right.  Nor is he asking us to always naively accept the appearance of repentance; he knows about con men.  What he wants from us good people is to realize that those sinners we don’t like are in God’s eyes our sisters and brothers in Christ.  If Christ is someday to be all in all, he will include them.  He wanted us to desire their repentance, as we would wish our beloved sister or brother to see the light and do better.  He wanted us to be happy if they change their lives, not to be grumpy because God loves them as much as he loves us.

God is the shepherd who wants all his sheep and the woman who doesn’t want to lose a single coin, because we are all precious to him.  Even if we good people secretly believe that we’re more precious than those sinners.

Some Christians will go out to find those lost sheep, but I won’t be one of them.  Our social structures keep a good distance between them and me—thank heaven!  And I don’t think Jesus asks most of us to go after the lost sheep.  All he asks of us is what he asked of the prodigal’s brother, who was bummed because his good-for-nothing brother got a new robe and a feast:

“My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.  But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” (Luke 15:31-32)