Hope for the Righteous Majority

Scripture: I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance. Luke 15:7

Observation: In response to the Pharisees attitude toward sinners, Jesus tells three of his most famous parables - the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. He concludes the first about the lost sheep with this statement - that heaven rejoices more for one recovered sinner than for "99 righteous people who don’t need repentance."

This is notable not only for the clear point of Jesus' mission being the repentance of sinners, but for this interesting paradigm ... everyone needs repentance! Therefore, these "99 righteous people who don't need repentance" don't really exist. Or more accurately, the righteous people are truly self-righteous, and do not believe they need repentance. It is for that reason heaven will not celebrate them ... they are actually lost but don't realize it, and thus are going to remain lost.

Application: The 99 righteous people who don't need repentance ... I used to be one of them. I was somewhere along the spectrum of someone who intellectually dismissed the idea of salvation and/or a 'good' God, and that life therefore was something I could figure out on my own.

This is where the world is, and this is the real challenge Jesus tried to address over and over when it came to the Pharisees. Yes, there is sadness when someone absolutely does not believe in the possibility of God. However, it seems Jesus focused on those who believed in God but yet did not comprehend the idea of salvation through faith. Either they saw no possibility of salvation, or focused on 'The Law' as a means to an ends.

Today, this brings one word to my mind: Hope. I used to be hopeless. Now, I need to bring hope to others. This is my true daily mission. Yes, I can gently and kindly love others. But the mission is to bring hope through the gospel truth.

Prayer: Lord, my days will be strange over the next week or so. You know where I need to be when. May I look for opportunities to bring hope to others, and may you grant me your eyes and heart in doing so. Amen.