Specifically, conservatives like how in these stories Jesus is seeking and saving the lost. Jesus' actions are evangelistic in nature. He was healing the sick. Repentance and return are goals. These aspects of the stories trouble progressive readings of the stories which view Jesus' actions as expressions of "welcome" and "tolerance" for the socially marginalized.
Progressives, for their part, like how Jesus goes to the margins in an expression of prevenient grace, an embrace that precedes any repentance or change. Jesus also attacks the moral caste system that created the social marginalization. These aspects of the stories trouble conservative readers of the stories who tend to adopt judgmental and hypocritical postures toward moral out-groups. See: the culture wars.
But beyond these cross-currents, I've also pointed out other aspects of these stories that don't have ready applications for us. Specifically, Jesus' mission in these stories was regathering the lost sheep of Israel in anticipation of a coming judgment. This introduces communal and apocalyptic elements. By communal I mean that Jesus' focus was upon scattered Israel. Israel, as a people, was Jesus' object. And it was this identity that Jesus prioritized over moral behavior. Again, recall the story of Zacchaeus. Jesus seeks him out "because this man, too, is a son of Abraham." That identity, being a lost son of Abraham, is was drove Jesus' actions.
To be sure, Jesus' kindness extended to Gentiles. But his priority was the lost sheep of Israel. And it was this communal identity that caused Jesus to crash through the caste system of Torah piety to seek the lost and to reconcile the older brothers to them, especially in light of the unfairness and lateness of the prodigals' nick-of-time return in the face of the coming judgment (see, again, the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard). To my eye, this aspect of Jesus' mission has no straightforward application to our time and place. Consequently, the Israel-centric and apocalyptic aspects of these stories tends to get dropped and stripped away reducing them to moral fables.
And yet, let me suggest, I do think we find in the New Testament a vision of how these stories about Jesus become universalized and shifted into an eschatological, rather than apocalyptic, register.
Consider the ministry of Paul. Very much like Jesus, Paul would go anywhere and fellowship with anyone in his efforts share the Good News. Following the actions of Peter in Acts 10, Paul set out to gather the Gentiles, the other "lost sheep" Jesus spoke of. In in doing so, Paul broke with how Jewish persons typically treated the goyim. As Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 9:
To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
Like Jesus, Paul would go anywhere and sit down with anyone. No moral, religious, social, or ethnic barrier would interfere with his practices of table fellowship. This, to my eye, seems very similar to Jesus' practice in the gospels.
Also, Paul saw his task as bringing the Gentiles into Israel, grafting these wild olive branches to the native tree of Israel (Romans 11). Paul continues Jesus' Israel-centric focus.
Paul also shows up in spaces, like Jesus, with a message of prevenient transforming grace. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners and enemies of God. This grace precedes any change or repentance.
Finally, Paul also experienced eschatological pressure in his task of gathering the lost sheep of the Gentiles. Paul, it appears, expected the immanent return of Jesus. This expectation mirrors Jesus' own apocalyptic urgency.
Stepping back, I'm suggesting that what we see Jesus doing with the lost sheep of Israel in the gospels is continued by Paul with his Gentile mission. As Jesus said in John 10, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd." We see Paul carrying forward many of Jesus' peculiar practices. Both displayed a radical indifference to social, moral, religious, and ethnic barriers. Jesus and Paul would break bread with anyone. In shocking and unprecedented fashion, they flowed over, through, and around social borders and hierarchies like water. Both also displayed an Israel-centric focus. They proclaimed a message of a prevenient transforming grace. Lastly, each expressed eschatological urgency.
This mapping of Jesus onto Paul seems, to me, to have some face validity. If so, why hasn't this connection been made more often? I think it's because we frame Jesus' practices of table fellowship as "welcome" and "embrace" and Paul's missionary actions as "evangelistic." That is, we don't think of Jesus as an evangelist. This, despite Jesus opening his career with the call "Repent!" (Mark 1.15) and describing his mission as "seeking and saving" the lost sheep of Israel. By failing to attend to Jesus' self-described mission of regathering the lost sheep of Israel, along with his call to repentance, we miss the missional aspects of his "welcoming sinners."
Why have we failed to see Jesus as an "evangelist," as one proclaiming "good news" (see, again, Mark 1.15)? I think for the reasons we've surveyed in this series. First, Jesus ignored the caste system created by Torah piety. Jesus became a "friend of sinners." Next, Jesus proclaimed a provocative message of a prevenient grace. He didn't make sinners jump through moral hoops. They were already embraced by a prior grace. And finally, Jesus castigated the "older brothers" for their judgmentalism and hypocrisy. All this tips us toward viewing Jesus' actions as "tolerance" and "acceptance" in a modern, liberal, and humanistic sense. But this modern take on Jesus misses his apocalyptic gathering of Israel.
Simply put, Jesus looks to us like he's just going around being nice to everyone when he's actually on a mission.
