Or what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost. Even so, [pg 005] I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.—Luke 15:1-10.
Every Jewish community had a fringe of unchurched people, who could not keep up the strict observance of the Law and had given up trying. The pious people, just because they were pious, felt they must cold-shoulder such. Jesus walked across the lines established. What seems to have been the motive that prompted him? Why did the Pharisee withdraw, and why did Jesus mix with the publicans?
What groups in our own communities correspond to the “publicans and sinners,” and what is the attitude of religious people toward them?
What social groups in college towns are spoken of with contempt by college men, and why?
Is there a Pharisaism of education? Define and locate it.
Fifth Day: The Problem of the Delinquents
For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.—Luke 19:10.
Here Jesus formulates the inner meaning and mission of his life as he himself felt it. He was here for social restoration and moral salvage. No human being should go to pieces if he could help it. He was not only willing to help people who came to him for help, but he proposed to go after them. The “lost” man was too valuable and sacred to be lost.
How does the Christian impulse of salvation connect with the activities represented in the National Conference of Charities and Correction?
How does a college community regard its “sinners”? Suppose a man has an instinct for low amusements and a yellow sense of honor, how do the higher forces in college life get at that man to set him right?