Sermon Audio: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ministrybymail

Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Luke 15:1-10 KJV

Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our meditation is based on the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin. You will see though we sinners find reason to keep our distance from one another and our God, the Savior comes to actively seek and recover you into His eternal fold.

O Lord Jesus, bless Thy Word that we may trust in Thee. Amen.

The parables of the lost sheep and lost coin present the crux and core of the difference between Jesus and the religious teachers of His day.

On several other occasions, the Pharisees tried their best to put their finger on it with a series of Bible riddles and challenges, but when in our lesson today, when they murmur, “This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.”—they hit the nail of their true and irreconcilable difference straight on the head.

The sinners they were talking about were men and women, who, of their own able-bodied accord, had chosen to follow paths of open sins like adultery and extortion. True sinners whom everyone had witnessed in action, or at the very least had heard so much about, that was all you could see when they walked by. Yet Jesus eats with them, Jesus talks with them, and without one drop of evidence of outward change in life on their part, Jesus genuinely loved them. The glaring question begging to be asked: ‘Where’s the repentance?’

Repentance was one of the Pharisees’ favorite topics. The absolute focus of their preaching, the Pharisees taught what true sorrow should feel like. They taught what a real turnabout in your life should look like to other people, and they taught the great blessings which accompanied any true repentance. They taught that the more you displayed repentance for all to see, the more heaven shook in anticipation, until once you finally cleaned your life up in undeniable fashion by the close of your earthly journey, the angels rejoiced to let you into glory above.

Yet, without any of this hard work on the part of these known sinners, Jesus openly embraces them, tells them the kingdom of heaven had come to them, and that their sins were forgiven them. This is what the Pharisees and scribes simply could not tolerate: ‘Where’s the repentance?!’

Our parables are Jesus’ response to that gnawing question they found impossible to shake from their heads. The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to go on a reckless hunt for the one. He trudges off across jagged stone to find wherever this sheep has foolishly roamed, a sheep with no regard for the shepherd’s constant shout to return. When found, the shepherd has to slump it up “on his shoulders” in order to physically drag it back into the fold.

Look closely, and you’ll find no remorse from the sheep. There is no good beating from the shepherd to teach it a good lesson. There is just rejoicing at the reunion, celebration with friends.

In the parable of the coin, the woman frantically scours every dark nook and filthy cranny of her house till she finds it. Obviously, there is no open recognition from the coin that it had chosen a wayward path. There is no tear-filled commitment from the coin to never get lost in the couch cushion again.

How could a sheep, a coin, do any such thing? To the Pharisees’ ears and eyes as they watch Jesus speak this parable to sinners—these ‘repentance’ parables would have sounded absolutely outrageous. And if you’re honest, they bother you a bit too. No, it might not have come across your lips quite like that—‘Where’s the repentance?’ Rather it’s a gnawing question beneath a good deal of hurt and harm in life.

Do you keep your distance from some, suspicious whether they’ve really changed their ways? ‘They might have said they’re sorry, but are they?’ Do you ask yourself: ‘How can you act as if nothing happened?’ Do you need incontrovertible evidence of outward repentance in order to shake from the court of the mind whatever you’ve seen, or heard?

Then you need to hear the parable’s twist, “There shall be more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” Like the Pharisees murmuring and watching Jesus dine with sinners from a distance, you’re the one distancing yourself from the fold. You’re the one not eating with Jesus. But the good news is that Jesus speaks these words to the Pharisees and you, out of His commitment to yank us wayward sheep onto His shoulders and drag us back to eat with the rest.

You see, the funny thing about all these ‘repentance’ parables is that they’re really not about repentance—not in the feeling bad sense of the word—but about recovery. Not your work back to God, but God’s work to restore you back to Himself. Jesus said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The Apostle John puts it: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Now, it’s not as if there was no repentance at those dinner gatherings with sinners, just not necessarily repentance evident to the human eye. You see, as both true man and true God, Jesus could see things you and I cannot, as the Scriptures say: “I the Lord search the heart.” And again: “The Lord knoweth them that are His.”

Jesus alone can see the despair in the heart that the law offers no answer to sin. Jesus alone sees the genuine regret of how your life choices have let you down, let down those whom you should have loved, let Him down. And He rejoices to see whenever a sinner realizes how you’ve alienated yourself from those from whom you demand this over that which you can’t even do yourself.

And maybe all this true repentance bubbling away on full simmer deep within His dinner guests’ hearts didn’t blossom and swell to the point that the Pharisees demanded to see, only because Jesus came swooping in so immediately to embrace them with His all-forgiving word and deed, just as He does for each of you gathered to dine with Him today.

Sure, throughout the Bible, there are cases of immediate and amazing outward repentance. The woman at the well who openly told the rest of the town: “Come, see a Man, which told me all things that ever I did.” Zacchaeus who freely and genuinely desired to now help and befriend those he had previously hurt and harmed: “If I have taken anything from any man… I restore him fourfold.” But even in these stupendously pious examples, for those who ever fixated on that outward repentance, there’s no such thing as good enough.

And that’s at the heart of the true and irreconcilable difference between Jesus and the Pharisees, really between Jesus and lost mankind as a whole. Incapable of working our way back into the fold, you and I on our own can only distance ourselves from one another and our God. An irreconcilable difference on our part, that is. But with God, nothing is impossible. The God “who hath reconciled us to Himself” in Christ Jesus, who came to suffer every little demand we sinners make of each other.

And for this we sinners rejected Him and cast Him out. The Pharisees rejected the One who did not reject their idea of repentance. And they sought to destroy Him. Yet, throughout the night of Christ’s arrest and into the next day, no matter how scathing their accusations, how fierce their beatings, how guilty they made Him look in the eyes of all who took in that shameful sight, they could get not one drop of repentance out of the sinless Lamb of God. Each drop of blood, as many as were shed, revealed how in both of this morning’s parables, Jesus had actually been talking about Himself: “The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.”

In order for you to enter glory above, Jesus needed to take accountability Himself for that which was lost, as if, as if it were His fault. He bore on His shoulders not just the weight of a cross, but each of your sins.

Each step He trod across jagged stone making heaven tremble in anticipation at the sight of your eternal redemption unfold in time, until like the woman’s coin, Jesus’ lifeless body ends up lodged into a filthy crevice of rock. No, Jesus didn’t live up to anyone’s expectation that crucifixion day, not the Pharisees nor any of His friends, but He did make full satisfaction before the One who counts.

Just as angels rejoiced that first Easter morning, the whole host of them rejoice every morning this Gospel is proclaimed, because through the pain-staking efforts of the Savior who died and rose again for you, your life has been cleaned up in undeniable fashion before the eternal throne of God, and just as Jesus’ first order of business was seeking and finding His lost sheep scattered when their Shepherd had been stricken, He’s just as active this day seeking, finding, and guiding to heavenly pasture, by His rod and staff of Word and Sacrament.

True repentance, then, is found in parables just like these. Parables which call you to see your God, yourself, and those in your life completely differently than how this sinful mind first assumes. It is found in parables which turn you away from what you require to see out of others and instead teach you to see them instead through faith, as Jesus does— redeemed, restored, forgiven, precious lambs He desires to draw near.

Contrary to the Pharisees’ claim, Jesus does teach you what true repentance feels like, the peace of a fresh start at life, a new life in Him. And He does teach you what it looks like to other people, to humble first yourself, to openly admit your faults, to bear with one another in patience, whether they recognize one drop of it or not.

So the next time you notice one of our fold or yours wandering a path contrary to the Good Shepherd’s voice, instead of murmuring to yourself and keeping our distance, actively seek to “restore such an one in the spirit of meekness,” the spirit with which He’s consistently dealt with you.

Where’s the repentance? It’s not a bad question after all, if you’re asking it of yourself. Let there be no doubt left in anyone’s mind concerning you as you go about embracing fellow sinners as joyously as the Savior who has so chosen to come and dine with you.

Now the peace that passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

—Pastor Timothy Daub

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Hecla, SD

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Ministry by Mail is a weekly publication of the Church of the Lutheran Confession. Subscription and staff information may be found online at www.clclutheran.org/ministrybymail.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the King James Version.