Luke 15:2

For this was His wont, for the sake whereof He had taken upon Him the flesh, to receive sinners as the physician those that are sick. But the Pharisees, the really guilty, returned murmurs for this act of mercy, as it follows, And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying, &c.

Second, with regard to the expression of conceived impiety, he adds: And the Pharisees and scribes murmured. Murmuring is a speaking-against which is neither fully expressed nor fully kept silent: Wisdom 1: "The ear of jealousy hears all things, and the tumult of murmurings shall …

Something like it we had in Matt. xviii. There it was designed to show the care God takes for the preservation of saints, as a reason why we should not offend them; here it is designed to show the pleasure God takes in the conversion of sinners, as a reason why we should rejoice in it. We have here, (1.) The case of a sinner that goes on in sinful ways.

And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured,.... When they saw the easy access these wicked men had to Christ; and that he stopped and stayed with them, and very freely imparted instructions to them: saying, this man receiveth sinners.

His justifying himself in it, by the design and proper tendency of it, which with many had been the effect of it, and that was, the bringing of them to repent and reform their lives, than which there could not be a more pleasing and acceptable service done to God, which he shows in the parables, 1. Of the lost sheep that was brought home with joy,

Receiveth sinners - Προσδεχεται. He receives them cordially, affectionately - takes them to his bosom; for so the word implies. What mercy! Jesus receives sinners in the most loving, affectionate manner, and saves them unto eternal life! Reader, give glory to God for ever!

The chapter which begins with these verses, is as well known to Bible readers as any. Few chapters perhaps have done more good to the souls of men. Let us take heed that it does good to us. We should first observe in these verses — the striking testimony which was borne to our Lord by His enemies. We read that when "all the publicans and sinners drew near to hear Him, the Scribes and Pharisees murmured, saying: This man receives sinners, and eats with them!"

IT is not very unusual that the Pharisees could not understand the Savior's mode of action—not only because self-righteousness and bigotry had blinded their eyes and callousness of heart to the interest of others and had bound them up in the darkness of self-righteousness—but also because the Savior's mode of acting was contrary to the general current of the dispensation to which the Pharisee had been accustomed. The dispensation of the old Covenant was that of distance. When God appeared to His servant Moses, it was, "Draw not near here: put off your shoes from off your feet."

SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS always seeks to blame others and to whitewash itself. The group that stood nearest to Christ in preaching was composed of two classes of persons—the publicans, or tax-gatherers and the open sinners. Now the Pharisee, when he came to speak of these two classes, called them by one name, lumping them all under one description and calling them all sinners.

murmured, saying, &c.--took it ill, were scandalized at Him, and insinuated (on the principle that a man is known by the company he keeps) that He must have some secret sympathy with their character. But oh, what a truth of unspeakable preciousness do their lips, as on other occasions, unconsciously utter! Now follow three parables representing the sinner: (1) in his stupidity;

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The chapter which begins with these verses, is as well known to Bible readers as any. Few chapters perhaps have done more good to the souls of men. Let us take heed that it does good to us. We should first observe in these verses — the striking testimony which was borne to our Lord by His enemies. We read that when "all the publicans and sinners drew near to hear Him, the Scribes and Pharisees murmured, saying: This man receives sinners, and eats with them!" These words were evidently spoken with surprise and scorn — and not with pleasure and admiration. These ignorant guides of the Jews could not understand a religious preacher having anything to do with wicked people! Yet their words worked for good. The very saying which was meant for a reproach — was adopted by the Lord Jesus as a true description of His ministry. It led to His speaking three of the most instructive parables which ever fell from His lips. The testimony of the Scribes and Pharisees was strictly and literally true — the Lord Jesus is indeed one who "receives sinners." He receives them — to pardon them, to sanctify them, and to make them fit for Heaven. It is His special office to do so. For this end He came into the world. He came not to call the righteous — but sinners to repentance. He came into the world to save sinners . What He was upon earth — He is now at the right hand of God, and will be to all eternity. He is emphatically the sinner's Friend. Have we any sense of sin? Do we feel bad, and wicked, and guilty, and deserving of God's wrath? Is the remembrance of our past lives, bitter to us? Does the recollection of our past conduct, make us ashamed? Then we are the very people who ought to apply to Christ — just as we are, pleading nothing good of our own, and making no useless delay. Christ will receive us graciously, pardon us freely, and give us eternal life.

It hath pleased the Lord by a painful illness to interrupt for a little while my usual labors. As I was unable to preach last Lord’s day, accept this week the issue of an old sermon. Though it has been buried in my publisher’s warehouse for two years, I pray God it may bud afresh and bring forth fruit, even as old corn after having been entombed in Egyptian sepulchres for centuries will often germinate again and yield an abundant crop. Ye have prayed for me. The Lord hath visited me in the chamber of affliction. I am recovering; and God knoweth “I long to see you, and impart unto you some spiritual gift;” and I trust that ere long “through your prayers I shall be given unto you.” Yours in much affection, C. H. S. “This man receiveth sinners.”—Luke 15:2. IT WAS A SINGULAR GROUP which had gathered round our Saviour, when these words were uttered; for we are told by the evangelist—“Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.” The publicans—the very lowest grade, the public oppressors, scorned and hated by the meanest Jew—these, together with the worst of characters, the scum of the streets and the very riff-raff of the society of Jerusalem, came around this mighty preacher, Jesus Christ, in order to listen to his words. On the outside of the throng there stood a few respectable people, who in those days were called Pharisees and Scribes—men who were highly esteemed in the synagogues as rulers, and governors, and teachers. These looked with scorn upon the Preacher; and watched him with invidious eyes, to find some fault.

IT is not very unusual that the Pharisees could not understand the Savior's mode of action—not only because self-righteousness and bigotry had blinded their eyes and callousness of heart to the interest of others and had bound them up in the darkness of self-righteousness—but also because the Savior's mode of acting was contrary to the general current of the dispensation to which the Pharisee had been accustomed. The dispensation of the old Covenant was that of distance. When God appeared to His servant Moses, it was, "Draw not near here: put off your shoes from off your feet." And when He manifested Himself upon Mount Sinai to His own chosen and separated people, one of the first commands was, "You shall set bounds about the mount and if so much as a beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart." In the sacred worship of the tabernacle and the temple the thought of distance must always have been prominent to the devout mind. The mass of the people did not even enter the outer court. Into the inner court none but the priests could ever dare to come. And into the innermost place, or the holy of holies, once a year one person only ever entered! A thick costly veil hung before the manifestation of Jehovah's Presence and upon the Shekinah no mortal eye ever gazed, except that eye which, once a year, alone, dared to look upon its splendor through the mist of the smoking incense when the blood of atonement was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat. The Lord seemed ever to be saying to the whole of His people, with but a few exceptions, "Come not near here." It was the dispensation of distance—as if the Lord in those early ages would teach man that sin was so utterly loathsome to Him that He must treat men as lepers put outside the camp.

SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS always seeks to blame others and to whitewash itself. The group that stood nearest to Christ in preaching was composed of two classes of persons—the publicans, or tax-gatherers and the open sinners. Now the Pharisee, when he came to speak of these two classes, called them by one name, lumping them all under one description and calling them all sinners. Now, although the publicans, or tax-gatherers, were very generally taken from the lowest class of Jews, and their calling of tax-gathering, never in itself, too popular, was in their particular case very objectionable, yet we have no reason to believe that all tax-gatherers were necessarily profane, or licentious, or dishonest. There were bad and good among those Jewish tax-gatherers, as well as among all other classes of mankind! Yet, because they were looked upon as being of the lowest class, the Pharisee spoke of them as if they were all "sinners." This is a common habit, I am afraid, with the Too-Goods—with those who have never felt their own sinfulness, to always use the worst names they can and to put as bad a color as they can upon the characters of other men. I wish we had learned to do the very reverse, namely, to try to see all the good we can in our fellow creatures, which were far more like Christ, rather than to condemn them wholesale, and impute the faults of some to a whole class. The Holy Spirit here speaks of "publicans andsinners"—the evil spirit in the Pharisee calls them all sinners. Let us imitate the Spirit of God and not the spirit ofpride.

It hath pleased the Lord by a painful illness to interrupt for a little while my usual labors. As I was unable to preach last Lord’s day, accept this week the issue of an old sermon. Though it has been buried in my publisher’s warehouse for two years, I pray God it may bud afresh and bring forth fruit, even as old corn after having been entombed in Egyptian sepulchres for centuries will often germinate again and yield an abundant crop. Ye have prayed for me. The Lord hath visited me in the chamber of affliction.

Murmured - They affected to suppose that if Jesus treated sinners kindly he must be fond of their society, and be a man of similar character. “They” considered it disgraceful to be with them or to eat with them, and they, therefore, brought a charge against him for it. They “would” not suppose that he admitted them to his society for the purpose of doing them good; nor did they remember that the very object of his coming was to call the wicked from their ways and to save them from death. Receiveth sinners - Receives them in a tender manner; treats them with kindness; does not drive them from his presence. And eateth with them - Contrary to the received maxims of the scribes. By eating with them he showed that he did not despise or overlook them.