And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
They were scandalized at His procedure, 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 what a truth of unspeakable preciousness do their lips, as on other occasions, unconsciously utter! And Jesus will show them how divine the deed is. Here, accordingly, follow three parables, illustrating the principle on which He drew them to Himself and hailed any symptoms in them of return to God. The three parables, though the same in their general import, present the sinner each of them under a different aspect. The first, as Bengel acutely and laconically remarks, represents him, in his stupidity, as a silly sheep going astray; the second, like lost property, as 'unconscious of his lost condition;' the third, as 'knowingly and willfully estranged from God.' The first two, as Trench well observes, set forth the seeking love of God; the last His receiving love.
This parable occurs again, and is recorded in Matthew 18:12-14; but there it is to show how precious one of his sheep is to the good Shepherd; here, to show that the shepherd, though it stray never so widely, will seek it out, and when he hath found, will rejoice over it.