Grumbling and Rejoicing

Up to this point in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has been seeking out those who are lost - the people who’ve wandered away from God.

But not everybody was happy about this. Look at the first 2 verses of Luke 15: "Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

Now, Luke, of course, has made it very clear throughout his Gospel that Jesus is the Son of God. And what are the Pharisees doing here?

Well, they’re doing just what the Israelites did after the Exodus out of Egypt that we read earlier from Exodus 16. They saw something the Lord did, and they start grumbling about it...