“Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him.” Luke 15:1 NASB
What was it about Jesus that drew sinners and the outcasts of society to Him? Tax collectors in Jesus’s day extorted money from people by demanding excessive amounts above the required payment. They were the most hated and mistrusted individuals in that day. They were earning a lucrative living by openly stealing. Note that it was not just tax collectors who were drawn to Jesus for the Bible says “and the sinners were coming near Him.”
And who were the sinners? Yes, drunkards, prostitutes, swindlers, thieves, liars, murderers and the like, “coming near Him to listen to Him.”
And who are the tax collectors and sinners in our day? I’m afraid it’s you and me. In some degree all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Ro. 3:23). And we all have a void, a deep hole in our souls that can only be filled by Jesus Christ. We were created to have a relationship with our heavenly Father, but that relationship is broken by our sin. It is an empty and nagging feeling that if you admit it; you know it is there. The tax collectors and sinners in Jesus’s day knew it was there. They didn’t want religious rules and regulations, they wanted forgiveness, and they wanted to fill the void, that deep hole in their life.
May you take the opportunity this Christmas to fill the void in your life by accepting Christ as your personal Savior. That is why He came. That is why we celebrate Christmas.
Word for the Soul 