notorious

Luke 15 

1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.

2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

3 So Jesus told them this story: 

4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? 

Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 

5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 

6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, 

‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 

7 In the same way, 

there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

I have always thought it interesting & curious that big time sinners wanted to be around Jesus.

I mean, Jesus is the Son of God - I would think He had some kind of humongous holy vibe going on.

And yet there was such a quality of Jesus' attitude toward all people that these outcasts in the Jewish community WANTED to be around Him, listen to Him, & even eat with Him.

So the question is, how many "notorious sinners" want to be around us?

Are we like Jesus, as so much of a person who simple loves people in general as well as in specific, that people want to be around us.

Do we simply like to connect with people, regardless of what they think or what they do?

So we just love people because Jesus loved us when we were big time sinners?

Of course, the older I get the more I realize that I'm still a sinner, they're just more socially acceptable or easier to hide.

Maybe we should simply treat others like Jesus treats us - loving, accepting, listening, & connecting.