Everything and Everyone
Jesus starts this passage by telling us that in order to be His disciple we have to let go of everything in this world. Let me point out two things about this. First of all being Jesus’ disciple means living like He lived. A disciple follows after the Master and emulates His life. Secondly, He isn’t saying that we can’t have anything, nor that while loving our enemies we must hate our family. He is saying that nothing in this world can have us including our family. If you want to be like Jesus you have to be like Jesus.
Those who were listening who has a strong vested interest in this world discredited His words on a technicality. He welcomed sinners and even ate with them. Who can listen to such a man? Certainly not someone looking for an excuse to not listen to Him.
Jesus then launches into three parables (two of which are in this passage) to answer their objection. A shepherd goes looking for his lost sheep. A woman searches for her lost coin. I recently had my wallet stolen and it had a sum of money in it. The amount it had when stolen was not nearly as much as I have in the bank, but I thought more about what was lost than what was safe in the bank.
God is relentless in going after the lost and it just so happens that some (perhaps most) of the “lost” are known sinners. Therefore, when God comes to earth He goes looking for...sinners!
All disciples start out as sinners. The change is not instantaneous. He is going after sinners and calling everyone to give up everything and become His disciple.
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