Luke 7:29,30 - Even the tax collectors!

7:29

Here Luke stresses the importance of John the Baptist and the right reaction to him. John and Jesus were different, one is the Son of God for one thing! When we see two people, or two churches or groups with different ministries we tend to set one up against the other, we say I prefer this one over that one. This is a wrong reaction. Although Jesus and John had different ministries they were both part of God’s plan and were serving the same purpose. The people believed Jesus’ words because they had listened to John’s words. Note the special mention of the tax collectors. They were a hated group of people because of their corruption. The gospel attracts all sorts because Jesus came to save all sorts.

7:30

The Pharisees and the lawyers “rejected God’s purpose for themselves”. These people had not been baptised by John, ie they had not repented. An unrepentant heart cannot hear nor respond to God. The lawyers were “experts” in the law, getting into all the minutiae of the law, but in doing so they missed the whole point of the law. This is a characteristic we see in secular lawyers today as well. While the people can see the clear picture, the lawyers are obsessed with some fiddling little point and are just a nuisance. We can also get amateur lawyers on church’s. We need to make sure we keep the big picture in mind.

Notice that it says “rejected God’s purpose for themselves”. God wanted the Pharisees to humble themselves and repent, nothing would have pleased Him more, but by their actions the Pharisees and lawyers rejected God’s purpose. I tend towards a Calvinist understanding of scripture, but it can very easily slip into nonsense, missing the big picture in exactly the same way that the lawyers here were missing the big picture. Calvinist “lawyers” are a menace. God does want all people to repent and believe, for the Bible tells us so, and if we refuse to repent and believe we reject God’s purpose for our lives, for the Bible tells us so. Now did God have a purpose in the Pharisees rejecting His call? Certainly yes, but we must make sure we do not miss the heart of God.

It is worth noting that the first message that was preached to the “common people” was one of repentance. Then they heard Jesus. The pattern often adopted today is that we “love” people first then preach the gospel. We should perhaps question this pattern. Repentance was a key part of the gospel preaching in the New Testament, and it “worked”!