The welcome and inclusion of outsiders is a distinctively prominent theme in the Gospel of Luke. It is this Gospel that especially highlights Jesus’ encounters and embrace of lepers, sinners, tax collectors, foreigners, and other “undesirables”. Luke is the Gospel-writer who includes parables that emphasise that the undeserving and unloved do indeed have a place in God’s family: the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Great Banquet, and more. In his presentation of Jesus, Luke wants us to know no one is outside of the scope of Jesus’ redemptive work. Everyone is invited to be included.
Lincoln Road Bible Chapel has been exploring this theme in our recent sermon series, “God’s Guest List: Welcome and Inclusion in the Gospel of Luke.” One challenge in delivering this series is the enthusiasm that contemporary Kiwi culture has for welcome and inclusion. We in New Zealand typically don’t like to exclude people, and our Christianity runs the risk of amplifying this theme so much that others are drowned out.
In contemporary western culture, calls for welcome and inclusion might be expected on the basis of human rights, or the dignity and value of every human being. But this fails to reckon with another theme found in Luke’s Gospel: the seriousness of sin. It also misses the motivation for Jesus’ mission: it lies not in us, but in God. Jesus’ mission is commissioned by God’s unchecked and generous ambition to redeem people from every corner of humanity. In the early chapters of Luke, this is the basis for Jesus to bring inclusion and forgiveness to all kinds of people who found themselves excluded from faith and fellowship.
So that we can hear Scripture clearly, we need to listen carefully: distilling all its themes and discerning how these cohere as one marvellous and interconnected symphony. To really grasp the significance of Jesus’ open invitation, we need to understand why we weren’t already included.
The Barrier we are Welcomed to Cross
The biggest thing that moderates our understanding of Luke’s theme of welcome and inclusion is this: sin remains an inhibitor to our access to God. “Sin” has become an emaciated concept whose gravity is diminished from what it carries in biblical thought. It is a word now more commonly carrying connotations of puerile naughtiness or an archaic severity. But sin in biblical thought is a weighty concept, heavy and serious.
- Sin is a breaking of God’s law. Anyone who has broken the law of a nation, been pursued, caught, and arraigned, will know something of the feeling that is appropriate.
- Sin is a failure to live up to God’s standard. Anyone who has not bothered to do a job to the standard expected of them should know the humiliation that follows their work being checked and found wanting.
- Sin is a twisting of God’s order. Anyone who has seen a beautiful and precious thing spoilt and degraded will understand the heartache and resentment that such an act has been done.
- Sin is a rejection of God’s creatorship. Anyone who has seen a vine being cut at the root knows its eventual outcome. It will wither and reveal what was true the moment it was severed from the earth: cut off from the source of its life, it is dying.
In many ways, sin is simply foreign to how we think today. So we minimize it. But it itself doesn’t fade or expire because we minimize. It remains humanity’s biggest problem, ruining relationships with others and with God. This is the problem that Jesus was sent to resolve. We see Jesus in action for this purpose in the Gospels. He welcomes the ostracised and ushers them into the community of God’s people. And he made the means for erasing that barrier of sin that had ruined the possibility of relationship with God.
Who are the Sinners in the Gospel of Luke?
Sin is not foreign to Luke’s presentation of Jesus and his mission. In fact, many kinds of people are highlighted as sinners. But these tend not to be the people that are despised and rejected by the pious and the powerful. Sometimes those highlighted as sinners might surprise us. Surprised or not, we are informed throughout the Gospel of Luke that sin is a serious affair, and that seriously bad consequences are coming to…
- People who occasion other people’s sin, tempting or provoking or enabling it in others (Luke 17:2).
- The rich, who are presumed exploitative and uncaring of the poor and powerless who are so valued by God (Luke 6:24–26).
- The Pharisees, who care more about outward displays of piety and religion than about justice and fairness for those who needed it the most (Luke 11:37–54).
- Servants of Jesus who neglect or abuse their positions of leadership (Luke 12:41–48).
- Those who are unmoved by Jesus—who either ignore the significance of Jesus or reject him outright. Jesus is God’s agent of redemption and the divine “Son of Man” who has God’s authority over all the nations of the world (cf. Daniel 7:13–14). Throughout this Gospel, we are warned against being unmoved by Jesus’ appeals (Luke 10:13–16; 19:41–46), against treating him as unimportant (9:23–26; 13:22–30; 14:16–24), and against rejecting him outright (9:51–56; 19:27; 20:9–18).
The Threshold to Our Welcoming God
Sin remains a caveat to the Lukan theme of welcome and inclusion. It is a barrier by which all people have excluded themselves from fellowship with God and his people. But this barrier is not so much a wall as it is a threshold. In the presentation given by Luke’s Gospel, forgiveness is offered to all in Jesus’ name (Luke 24:47). It is the basis by which anyone can be welcomed and included. But this forgiveness and welcome is paired with repentance (Luke 24:27). Repentance is the threshold we must cross if we are to receive that welcome and come to God as sinners forgiven. We are taught in Luke’s Gospel that it is important to repent of our own sin, and not be distracted by questions about others’ sin (Luke 13:1–5). Like the criminal on the cross, at his point of extremis, we are wise to recognise that we are justly condemned, and to look to him for acquittal (Luke 23:39–43).
Welcome as Induction to Discipleship
How does this relate to church practice today? Churches have been accused of failing to really welcome and include people who have been “on the outside” of the religious status quo. Sometimes these charges land, and churches must reconsider how they do things. Nevertheless, the welcome we extend in the name of Jesus is one that reaches across the threshold that must be crossed to truly join the community of God’s people. The church is an exclusive community, but one that has open doors. As Luke’s Gospel guides us, “sinners” are certainly welcome, although they are not encouraged to stay in sin. Instead, stories of transformation lead all of us to answer Jesus’ call to discipleship. Like Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke 19:1–10); the unnamed sinful “woman of the city” (Luke 7:36–50); the proverbial prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32); or the crucified criminal (Luke 23:39–43); we are led not to presume or receive forgiveness while remaining in sin.
Forgiveness of sin must be matched by repentance from sin. Transformation will follow conversion. It may be slow or it may be sudden. But between the grace of God, the summons of Jesus, the power of the Spirit and the fellowship of a church, after forgiveness and repentance transformation will be certain.
Sin is a real barrier. But in the spirit of Jesus—as presented by the Gospel of Luke—the role of churches is to extend a warm and genuine welcome. Everyone is invited to be included. Christians are called to invite everyone and anyone to cross the threshold, and be accepted into the community of Jesus.