Once when people who were commonly labelled as sinners came to listen to Jesus the Pharisees commented that Jesus was mixing with sinners! Jesus told them that His mission was to save those who were 'lost'. He asked them to think of a farmer who had 100 sheep one of which had strayed away. He pointed to Himself as a good shepherd who would go in search of that one sheep leaving the other 99 behind.

He described the heart of God the Father towards lost sinners with a story. A man had two sons, and the younger son wanted to get his share of the property and enjoy himself. When the father reluctantly agreed, he went off and spent the money on his pleasures with his friends. When it was all gone, even his friends left him. He found himself looking after pigs for the sake of survival, which was as low as a Jew could get to. Then he realised that in his father's house even the servants were better off. He started back towards home thinking that since he didn't deserve to be a son, he would request his father to treat him at least as a servant. But his father was waiting, and ran to welcome him. He called for a feast to celebrate the return. This is the kind of welcome a repentant sinner would receive in heaven. The older brother wasn't happy. He thought his brother who had wasted everything with sinful living didn't deserve this while he himself had carefully avoided all excesses. But the father explained that everything in the house had been all along his to enjoy and nobody had prevented him. This feast was specially to rejoice over the son who was 'dead' who had come back. Both sons have something for us to learn from.

Jesus told the people about a rich farmer who once had a bumper harvest. This man thought he would build bigger barns, become richer and enjoy himself. What he didn't know was that he was going to die that night and all his labour was going to be wasted. This is what would happen to everyone who aims only at earthly gains and isn't making himself rich towards God. Another story was about a merchant of pearls who discovered a pearl more precious than everything he had seen, and so he sold off everything else to buy that one. Jesus meant that this was how we should value the kingdom of God in relation to everything else.