"This man receiveth sinners."--Luke, xv. 2.
The ironical taunt of proud and censorious Pharisees formed the glory of
Him who came, "not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
Publicans and outcasts; those covered with a deeper than any bodily
leprosy--laid bare their wounds to the "Great Physician;" and as
conscious guilt and timid penitence crept abashed and imploring to His
feet, they found nothing but a forgiving and a gracious welcome!
"His ways" were not as "man's ways!" The "watchmen," in the Canticles,
"smote" the disconsolate one seeking her lost Lord; they tore off her
veil, mocking with chilling unkindness her anguished tears. Not so "the
Chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls." "_This_ man _receiveth_ sinners"!
See Nicodemus, stealing under the shadows of night to elude
observation--type of the thousand thousand who in every age have gone
trembling in their night of sin and sorrow to this Heavenly Friend! Does
Jesus punish his timidity by shutting His door against him, spurning him
from His presence? "He will not break the bruised reed, He will not
quench the smoking flax!"
And He is still the same! He who arrested a persecutor in his
blasphemies, and tuned the lips of an expiring felon with faith and
love, is at this hour standing, with all the garnered treasures of
Redemption in His hand, proclaiming, "Him that cometh unto Me, I will in
no wise cast out"!
Are we from this to think lightly of sin? or, by example and conduct, to
palliate and overlook its enormity? Not so; sin, _as_ sin, can never be
sufficiently stamped with the brand of reprobation. But we must seek
carefully to distinguish between the offence and the offender. Nothing
should be done on our part, by word or deed, to mock the penitential
sighings of a guilty spirit, or send the trembling outcast away, with
the despairing feeling of "_No hope_." "This man receiveth sinners," and
shall not _we_? Does _He_ suffer the veriest dregs of human depravity to
crouch unbidden at His feet, and to gaze on His forgiving countenance
with the uplifted eye of hope, and shall _we_ dare to deal out harsh,
and severe, and crushing verdicts on an offending (it may be a _deeply_
offending) brother? Shall we pronounce "crimson" and "scarlet" sins and
sinners beyond the pale of mercy, when _Jesus_ does not? Nay, rather,
when wretchedness, and depravity, and backsliding cross our path, let it
not be with the bitter taunt or the ironical retort that we bid them
away. Let us bear, endure, remonstrate, deal tenderly. Jesus _did_ so,
Jesus _does_ so! Ah! If we had within us His unconquerable love of
souls; His yearning desire for the everlasting happiness of sinners, we
should be more frequently in earnest expostulation and affectionate
appeal with those who have hitherto got no other than harsh thoughts and
repulsive words. If this "mind" really were in us, "which was also in
Him," we should more frequently ask ourselves, "Have I done all I
_might_ have done to pluck this brand from the burning! Have I
remembered what grace _has_ wrought, what grace _can_ do?"
"Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let
him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way
shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins!"
"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."
Twenty-sixth Day.