Pentecost 17 – 11 September 2016 – Year C
Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 15th Chapter of the
Gospel according to St Luke: Verses: 1–10:
The
Parable of the Lost Sheep
Now the tax collectors and sinners were
all drawing near to hear him. 2 And
the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and
eats with them.”
3 So
he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you,
having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the
ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he
finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders,
rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his
neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was
lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no
repentance.
The
Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin,
does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds
it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and
neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had
lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over
one sinner who repents.”
Today’s Gospel comes from the
great ‘Lost and Found’ chapter of Luke.
This chapter contains one grand parable that Jesus told in three
different stories. There is the story of
the ‘Lost Sheep,’ the ‘Lost Coin,’ and the Prodigal Son.
Jesus wove common themes into all
three of these stories. There is the
thing or person who is lost. This
represents all mankind for we are all sinners at birth and are lost before
God. Then there is the seeker who finds
the lost. This is Jesus who endured
incredible shame in order to find us and take us back into His family. Then there is the joy of finding the thing
that was lost. Jesus compared this to
the joy of heaven and the joy of the angels over the sinner who repents.
The context of this grand parable
is the grumbling of the Pharisees and the scribes. They said, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Jesus told this parable in response to their
grumbling.
Sadly, most of us are like those
Pharisees and scribes. We do not see
ourselves as sinners. We see ourselves
as one of the nine coins that remained in the woman’s purse. We see ourselves as one of the compliant,
obedient ninety-nine sheep that stayed with the shepherd. Jesus told this grand parable of three
stories because it is in our nature to think that God loves us just because we
are so lovable. The three stories in
this grand parable teach us that God loves the unlovable. God rescues the sinner. He brings the sinner to repentance.
Jesus talked about repentance
twice in today’s Gospel reading. After
He spoke of finding the lost sheep, He said, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner
who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Then, after finding the lost coin, He said, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before
the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Repentance is so important that after Jesus
rose from the dead, He said that the mission of the church was to preach
repentance and the forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ.
We have a real problem with
repentance; It go against our human nature, and so we often skip over the words
without thinking about what it means. We should understand that true repentance consists of two parts. The first being that we must admit that we
truly are sinners, and then having done that, feel genuine remorse (or sorrow)
that we do continually sin. We don’t
like that. We would prefer to think that
we are good people. That was the problem
that the Pharisees and scribes had. This
is still our problem today. Jesus told
this grand ‘Lost and Found’ parable in order to teach the Pharisees, scribes and us what John wrote in his first
epistle: [1 John 1:8, 10] If
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. … If
we say we have not sinned, we make [God] a liar, and his word is not in us.
A few years ago, I saw an example
of our natural tendency to reject the life of repentance. It was a Facebook post by a prominent
theologian that said, “Jesus loves it when we tell Him how bad we are.” The responses to this post were very
negative. The general theme was, “Who is
the idiot who taught you that?”
Twice, Jesus taught about the joy
of repentance. “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner
who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. …
Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who
repents.” It is correct to say that
the knowledge of sin is the knowledge of how bad I am. Jesus is the one who taught about the joy
before the angels in heaven over the sinner who tells God how bad he is and
then begs God for forgiveness. The
negative response to that Facebook status showed that most people did not know
or they forgot what Jesus said in today’s Gospel, OR they knew about it, but just didn’t know what it means to
repent.
It is part of our sinful nature
that we DO NOT want to repent. We say
the words of repentance each week at our regular Worship Services, but how
often do we say them on autopilot?
“Most merciful God, we confess that we
have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and
by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole
heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we
humbly repent.
Do we actually think about what
these words mean when we say them? In
them, we are telling God that every day we live on this earth we have opposed
God’s will for us and deserve to be abandoned to our own inadequate ability to
survive. We are telling God that when we die, we deserve to live in hell
forever. How often do we just make the
sounds of these words without thinking about what we are saying?
If
we are sincere in our confession; if we truly repent of our sins; we become
well aware of our sad state and our inadequacies to change! Then and only then
can we come humbly to the foot of the cross of Christ and beg for forgiveness
and healing. …. “For
the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may
delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of thy Name. Amen.”
There is always good news for the
repentant sinner: God is merciful! The Holy Scriptures tells us that Jesus receives sinners and eats with them. Jesus is the one who searches for sinners and
brings them back to Himself.
Think how much joy there must be
before the angels in heaven. After He
spoke of finding the lost sheep, Jesus said, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner
who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Then, after finding the lost coin, He said, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before
the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” How many sinners does the Holy Spirit bring
to repentance around the world in Divine Service? How many sinners repent in private devotions
daily? What must the joy before the
angels in heaven be like as all those sinners repent?
Why
is there so much joy? There is joy
because of what comes next. Jesus has
given His ordained leaders of the Christian Church the authority to announce His words of forgiveness: that He earned for the world!
“The Almighty and merciful Lord grant
you absolution and remission of all your sins, true repentance, amendment of
life, and the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Through the
Grace of our Great Triune God that was hard earned by Jesus Christ on Calvary’s
Cross, all our sins have been borne by Him who took the punishment for sins in
our place, and we are therefore declared blameless in God’s sight.
God’s search for lost sinners is
much more profound than could be told in any one parable. Jesus began His search for sinners long
ago. The Holy Spirit inspired the
Apostle Paul to write: [Ephesians
1:4] He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and blameless before him.
With these words, Paul tells us that Jesus, the Son of God, began His
search for us before He even created the world. The Old Testament Prophet
Ezekiel spoke God’s promise (Ezekiel 4: 11-13): “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my
sheep and will seek them out. As a
shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been
scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places
where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” In
today’s Gospel Jesus tells us that He has fulfilled this promise that He made
in the days of the Prophet Ezekiel.
When the time was right the Son
of God continued His search by taking on our human flesh. As He searched for us, He humbled Himself
under the Law even though He is the master of the Law. As He searched for us in His perfect life, He
encountered the great predator, death itself.
As Jesus died on the cross, it seemed as though death had ended the
search, but that was not the case. What
death did not know was that Jesus intended to conquer death with His
death. Jesus suffered on the cross for
us, but in His suffering, He did not suffer defeat. Instead, He conquered sin, death, and the
power of the devil.
The victory Jesus won on the
cross became evident when He burst forth from the tomb on the third day. His resurrection assures us that His victory
on the cross, earned our salvation for us.
We are forgiven! Jesus Christ has
adopted us into His family.
The whole point of the
ninety-nine sheep and the nine coins is that people who insist that they are
not sinners also insist that they do not need Jesus. Those who insist that they are not bad also
insist that they do not need Jesus.
Those who insist that they are not lost are the most lost of all. The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine
sheep. The woman leaves the nine
coins. The search is for the one that is
lost. Jesus searches for sinners.
What joy there is before the
angels in heaven over one sinner who repents!
What joy there is on earth among those sinners who are forgiven! Amen
The love and peace of our Great
Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus. Amen
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