Trinity 3
Lk
15:1-10
6/21/15
This week a second Surburg child
went to see the orthodontist. This was just for a consult, but we know that it
is inevitable that something will have to be done. In the case of both children it is not a
matter of vanity – of wanting them to have perfect teeth. Instead things will have to be done so that
there will be space for all the teeth to come in properly as they get older.
Now while I know all of this is
necessary, I am not without sympathy when I hear moans and groans about the
orthodontist and the things he puts in your mouth and makes you wear. For you see, I had my own experience with the
orthodontist. I had to wear two
different kinds of retainers during my middle school and my early high school years. The later years were better, since it was
something I only had to wear at night.
But for a number of years during middle school I had to have one in my
mouth all of the time.
It of course, no fun to speak with a
piece of plastic and metal in your mouth.
But over time I got used to it. The thing that never ceased to be a pain
was the fact that when eating you had to take the thing out and put it
somewhere. Now no one wants this saliva
covered implement sitting out next to them when they eat. And it’s something you are going to put back
in your mouth, so you don’t want to put it directly on the table. So I would wrap it in a napkin. And this created the circumstances that my
parents and I remember to this day.
We were driving over from
Bloomington, IN to Cincinnati. We
stopped at a hamburger place on the way for lunch, and then after eating got
back on the highway. We were perhaps
fifteen minutes down the road when suddenly, a shudder went through me. I realized that I did not have the retainer
in my mouth. I knew I had been wearing
it that day. And so that could mean only
one thing – the retainer wrapped in a napkin and been thrown into the trash.
Now retainers aren’t cheap – it’s
not the kind of thing you want to pay to replace. So at the first exit we could
find we got off the highway and headed back the other direction to the
hamburger place. By the time we got
there, the garbage can into which we had thrown our trash had already been emptied. The bag had been taken and placed with the
numerous other bags of garbage from that day.
My mom explained what had happened
to the manager of the store. They were helpful as they brought out the bags of
garbage. And then my parents and I searched through garbage bag after garbage
bag. I’ll save you the details – but
needless to say the refuse at a hamburger place is not very pleasant. Finally, the retainer was found, wrapped in a
napkin. And let me tell you, there was
joy – joy that the retainer had been found and joy that we didn’t have to look
through any more garbage.
In the Gospel lesson today, Jesus
tells two parables about the search for something that is lost. He talks about
a lost sheep and a lost coin – we will focus this morning on the second of
these. The note that ties both of these
parables together is the joy that is present when the lost is found. In the brief story about a woman who lost a
coin, we learn about God’s love and desire to save.
The text for last week’s sermon from
Luke chapter fourteen was the account of events that happened as Jesus was eating
at the house of a chief Pharisee. This
morning our text is from the next chapter in Luke’s Gospel, and once again a
meal provides the setting for what Jesus says.
We hear in the first verse, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all
drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying,
“This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
When I was in school the cafeteria
was one of the primary settings where the social structure of middle school and
high school was displayed. The people
with whom you ate demonstrated those people you liked and accepted and those
people you didn’t. It showed where you
were accepted, and where you were not. The catechumens tell me that this aspect
of school life has not changed.
It’s not surprising that this is the
case, because sharing a meal – eating together – has been a significant feature
in many cultures. It certainly was in
first century Palestine. There meal
fellowship – the people with whom you ate – clearly demonstrated those whom you
accepted and those you didn’t.
The Gospels make it clear that Jesus
regularly ate with people who are described as “tax collectors and
sinners.” He ate with people who were
considered to be sinful and socially undesirable. So in chapter five after Jesus
calls Levi – or as we also know him, Matthew – the new disciple holds a great
banquet for Jesus which is attended by tax collectors and others like him. We learn that the Pharisees grumbled to
Jesus’ disciples saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and
sinners?”
In our text we find that Jesus is
again eating with these kinds of people.
This time the Pharisees and the scribes grumble, saying, “This man
receives sinners and eats with them.”
The meal wasn’t just a meal. It
was an act by which Jesus received people they considered to be sinful and
unworthy.
So in response Jesus told a series
of three parables. In the second he
said, “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?” The coin amounted to a day’s wage and in the
subsistence life of most people there was little extra money on hand. These ten coins represented a significant
amount in the life of the family.
When the woman realized that one was
missing she lit a lamp. Palestinian homes had little in the way of windows.
They were dark places and so by the light of a lamp the woman swept the floor
until she found the coin. This was a careful search because the coin was very
valuable to her.
Our Lord then said, “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.’”
With the loss averted, the woman rejoiced. And this was good news that she wanted to share
so that others could rejoice with her. Having
told the parable, Jesus makes his point at the end of our text as he says, “Just
so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who
repents.”
In our text today we learn that yes,
the Pharisees are right. Jesus receives
tax collectors and sinners and eats with them.
Yet this is not a matter of Jesus accepting sin. It is not Jesus saying that he is just here
to love everyone no matter what they want to do.
Instead, Jesus receives and accepts
sinners who repent. At Levi’s house he said, “Those who are well have no
need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the
righteous but sinners to repentance.” Our
text this morning teaches us that Jesus seeks sinners. He seeks you.
As a person created in God’s image
he considers you to be of great value.
But because God is the Creator, he is also the one who has established
how life is to work. You don’t get to make up the rules as you go. Instead when your words, your thoughts and
your deeds go contrary this ordering, this is sin that separates you from
God. If that separation remains, it
results in God’s eternal condemnation.
That is not God’s desire. Instead he wants to save the lost. And so the Son of God was sent into your
existence in order to suffer and die on the cross. He received that condemnation against sin in
your place. And in his resurrection on
the third day he began the existence that will be yours as well when he returns
in glory.
He has sought you out through the
work of his Spirit and found you. He
claimed you in the water of Holy Baptism. But you are still someone who
wanders. Though a new creation in Christ,
the old man is still present whispering in your ear that you should be free to
do things your own way. This
thought is one that the world around us – our culture – echoes a million times
a day.
And when you listen to the old man
and the world – when you sin – our loving God seeks you out through his
word. He calls you to repentance through
his law. He does this, not because he
wants to make you feel bad; not because he is some kind of vindictive
tyrant. Instead he does this so that in
repentance and faith you can receive the forgiveness that Jesus Christ has won
for you.
This is a desire that he holds not
just for you, but for all people.
And so he calls you to speak the word of truth about life to
others. In these days and times, in particular
there is the need to speak the truth about God’s gift of marriage, sex and
children. This is a word that
contradicts the world. But it is a word that calls people to repentance. It calls them to think again about how they
view life. It calls them to return to
the Lord and his ways so that through faith in Christ they may receive
forgiveness.
And when this happens, there is
joy. In fact Jesus says in our text, “Just
so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who
repents.” It is a joy that we share in
as we now are invited to come to Jesus’ table. For the Pharisees are right,
Jesus receives sinners. He
receives repentant sinners and now he feeds them with his true body and blood
for the forgiveness of all sins. The saving reign of God that was present at meals
in those first century Palestinians homes is now present in this house. And because this is so, we can leave with
joy. We can leave with the joy of
forgiveness and peace. We can leave with
a joy that we then share with others during the week in what we say and do.
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