 |
spent1704
Sinners Welcome
Text:
Luke 15:1-10
Date: Pentecost XVII
9/26/04 free word game downloads
The
first requirement of being a member of St. Mark Lutheran Church,
indeed of the Holy Church throughout the World is that you must
be a sinner. Does anyone here not qualify? Does anyone
not qualify?
As
our Lord Jesus trudged the byways and hills from Galilee to Jerusalem
groups, even crowds of people followed him. But they did not all
follow him for the same reason. In today's Gospel there are at least
two groups: the tax collectors and sinners on the one hand and the
Pharisees and the scribes on the other. I say that there were “at
least” two groups because the Holy Spirit inspired St. Luke to write
down his orderly account also for the catechumens or disciples or
learners of the Way of succeeding generations, and that includes
you and me sitting here today. Now, the two groups in our text were
following Jesus for two different reasons, but they both needed
to hear the same message. Luke tells us the tax collectors and sinners
were all drawing near him “to hear him.” That's the technical word
for catechumens or disciples: hearers of the Word. The Pharisees
and the scribes, on the other hand, drew near to grumble amongst
themselves, to criticize Jesus for even associating with the likes
of these social pariahs.
“So
he told them this parable.” Jesus spoke to “them.” Who? The parable
is for the tax collectors and sinners. The parable is for the Pharisees
and the scribes, too. The parable is for those who came to hear
him. And it was for those who came to judge him. In other words
these two little parables are for everyone. For everyone, whether
they realize it or not, have the same need. And He speaks them anew
this day to you.
The
first parable has to do with a man who is a shepherd. The second
features a woman in a house. Both have to do with seeking and finding
something that is lost: the first, a lost sheep, the second a lost
coin. Both have to do with the joy of finding that which was lost
and the community celebration, even the rejoicing of heaven over
the finding.
So
he told them this parable: “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?” That's a question. It expects an answer. It expects an obvious
negative answer. What man of you having lost a sheep would not go
to find it? Well, obviously, none of us would be so careless! Of
course we'd drop everything and go try to find the lost sheep.
We've
heard a lot about sheep. But one thing I recently learned is that
before a sheep knows it's lost, it, of course, just wanders around.
But when it listens for the voice of the shepherd and does not hear
it, when it somehow realizes it is lost, a sheep will sit down (like
the picture on the cover of our service folder today) and will not
budge. It won't budge even when the shepherd finds it. It is frozen
in fear. The shepherd must pick the sheep up and put it up on his
shoulders and carry it home.
What
an apt picture of mankind apart from God, separated from God by
our sin, first just wandering through the bleak wilderness of life,
then, if the realization ever sets in of being lost, frozen in fear.
According to this picture there are no “seekers” for God. God must
come and seek them!
This
is the main theme of Jesus' earthly ministry. In Luke's Gospel he
said it at the very beginning, while at table with Levi the tax
collector, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance" [Luke 5:32 (ESV)]. And he will reiterate it at
the end of his ministry, entering the home of Zacchaeus, the chief
tax collector, saying, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save
the lost" [Luke 19:10 (ESV)]. Jesus says that way of seeking
and saving is called “repentance.” “Just so, I tell you, there will
be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents….” Repentance
is the response when the kingdom comes to us. The sheep does nothing
to prompt the shepherd to begin his search except to become lost.
The shepherd finds the sheep. “Being found” is equated with “repentance.”
When Christ comes and speaks and claims the heart of a lost one,
the lost one is like that lost sheep, frozen in fear. But Christ
comes and puts us on his shoulders and carries us to be with him.
Repentance means both admitting that we are lost and trusting in
the Savior who comes and saves us.
Jesus
adds the observation of more joy in heaven of the one sinner who
repents “than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance,”
maybe as a little jab, a little wake-up call or invitation to the
self-righteous Pharisees. As if there are any “righteous” that need
| |
