Consider the nature of the people in the crowds around Jesus as He shared the parables in Luke 15.
- Publicans: social outcasts of their day, notoriously dishonest, gathered more taxes than Rome required
- Sinners: those who everyone knew had “missed the mark” regarding righteousness
- Pharisees: zealots who were outwardly religious, strived to impress others, condemned others, avoided even touching sinners
- Scribes: spent time copying scriptures, others accepted them as experts, their attitudes were similar to those of the Pharisees
The Publicans and sinners came to listen to Jesus. The Pharisees and scribes came to find fault with Jesus. When you hear God’s Word or read it, do you seek to listen to Jesus or do you look for fault with God’s Word? Are you critical toward others? Do you judge before you know the whole story? As a leader, are you willing to give those who have failed a second chance? God wants us to be both wise and compassionate. True leaders achieve a balance.
Lead with Grace 
January 10th, 2019 at 6:15 am
I wish the church my parents attended looked into points such as these! Simple blog post.. yet thought provoking.
Stay Blessed
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January 11th, 2019 at 11:48 am
Thanks for the encouragement. Blessing to you as well.
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January 9th, 2019 at 2:34 pm
I never knew this about the scribes. I’m not sure why I had this naïve notion that scribes were people truly seeking the heart of God. Did the scribes change their perspective after Christ left? Or is our scripture as we know it relayed by folks who didn’t believe what they wrote? This makes it more fascinating to me, as if it was relayed by people who didn’t believe it the heaven or hell aspect becomes even more dire. As I was thinking of the Left Behind series, how the pastor was left behind, I realize there are many who preach but don’t actually believe what they say. And moreso than as in a faith struggle but as in their heart is in the wrong place. Interesting! You have me something to dig into!!!
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January 11th, 2019 at 11:46 am
It is a fascinating topic. My current high-level understanding is that the scribes were working with the Scriptures roughly equivalent to what we call the Old Testament.
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January 11th, 2019 at 12:17 pm
I wonder if that would have the same expectation of belief? Hmmmm As a ghostwriter I once took on a project without fully understanding the context. As we got further into it, I realized it was about beliefs completely outside of a scope I could co-sign. However I had a contract. So I prayed and asked for strength to finish, as I am not someone who believes all others need to believe exactly as I do. I value diversity and good talks about religion and life. But as a writer sharing information in a book that would go out, I felt like it was so important my heart was in it. In the end, I shared my thoughts with him and offered a discount and we parted ways because I saw that as hard as I tried not being passionate about the subject and believing what I was writing diminished my ability to write it with passion readers would by. I’ve never been good at marketing something I didn’t believe in. This so fascinates me!!
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January 15th, 2019 at 2:04 pm
I’ve been in similar situations and responded in a similar way. We can listen with grace and courtesy. It doesn’t mean we have to agree. Like you, I cannot write something that I believe would displease my Savior.
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January 15th, 2019 at 2:08 pm
This has fascinated me! I had such a great conversation with a friend who is a scholar. Thanks so much for posting it and getting my mind jogged!
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