This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
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.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In our Gospel reading, we read two very well known parables of Jesus: the Parable of the lost sheep and the Parable of the lost coin. This chapter of Luke also includes a third parable, the Parable of the prodigal son.
We read right at the beginning of our reading today, where it says: Now the tax collector 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.”
These parables are directed against these grumblers, these Pharisees and scribes. Even at the end of the parable of the Prodigal Son, we see the other brother who grumbles about the fact that his father put on a banquet for his returned wayward son.
In the parable, Jesus says: 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.
So, let’s ask the question: why were they grumbling? Why did these righteous persons not need repentance?
Well, these Pharisees and scribes were self-righteous, and they trusted in themselves that they were righteous. These were the ninety-nine righteous persons, but they weren’t really righteous. Of course, they needed repentance, because everyone needs repentance. The reality is that they thought they were righteous, and they thought they didn’t need repentance: and this is the great danger that the Pharisees and the scribes find themselves in.
Last week, we were reading about the Parable of the great banquet, where people began to make all kinds of excuses as to why they wouldn’t come. Once again, the reason why they wouldn’t come to the banquet was that they were self-righteous. You can see that this self-righteousness is a real poison that effects our soul.
Now, in the bible, we find there two main doctrines which are completely and totally different from each other. We have the Law and the Gospel. The Law of God refers to those things in the Bible where God tells us what we should do and what we shouldn’t do, what kinds of people we should be and not be. It shows to us what God promises if we do his law and what he threatens if we don’t do his law. It shows us God’s judgment against sin, and his anger and wrath against sin. It doesn’t make us into sinners, it just finds sinners who are already there. It’s like a laser beam from God that turns in every direction until it finds us, and then it says: “I’ve got you.”
However, the Gospel doesn’t find anyone who is holy or a saint. Rather, it makes people saints. The Gospel only finds sinners, and is a message only addressed to sinners. It tells us that God has sent his only Son to die for us, and to rise again from the dead, and for those who are condemned under God’s law, it tells us that Jesus has perfectly fulfilled the law, and that he has done it in our place, and has taken the burden of our guilt and sin upon himself, and gives to us his perfect righteousness. He is condemned as a sinner, and we are set free through the forgiveness of our sins, which we receive from totally freely as a gift, by faith alone.
Now, the Law and the Gospel differ in many ways, and one way in which they differ is to whom either the Law or the Gospel should be addressed. For example, sometimes what people need to hear is the Law, and sometimes what people need to hear is the Gospel.
For example, we see two groups of people in our reading today. The first group is the tax collectors and sinners, and the second group is the Pharisees and the scribes.
So, on one hand, Jesus is telling this parable against the Pharisees and the scribes. But he also tells this parable for the comfort and benefit of the tax collectors and sinners. On one hand, he tells this parable because he wants to make the comfortable uncomfortable. But then, he also wants to comfort those who are broken hearted.
So, the Pharisees and scribes reveal to Jesus their heart. We read that the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus. The Pharisees and scribes were not drawing near to hear Jesus. Instead, they were watching other people drawing near to Jesus, and they were grumbling about them, and judging them. What they saw was that these people were sinners, but they themselves were not.
The next thing they did was then to accuse Jesus. They thought that if Jesus were as holy and as righteous as us, then he wouldn’t want to be seen eating with these people. We see this in another part, where Jesus is in a Pharisee’s house, and a woman comes to him and pours ointment on his feet. The Pharisee says: If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.
Then in our reading, Jesus accuses them. They are people who are “righteous”, but only in inverted commas. They think they are righteous, but they are not. Their righteousness is a kind of complete and total blindness. They think they are righteous and they think they do not need repentance. Even so, they are people whom the shepherd has to abandon, in order to find the lost one.
Now, in John 16, we read some words that Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit. He says: When [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Then Jesus explains each of these things, sin and righteousness and judgment, one by one: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. Now, this reading is the Gospel reading for another Sunday, so we won’t explain everything now. But let’s focus on how Jesus explains the Holy Spirit convicting the world concerning sin: he says: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. It’s as if to say that Jesus is telling them, that there is no Holy Spirit is people don’t believe in Jesus, but also that not believing in Jesus is the most serious sin.
Of course, since Jesus is true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, we know that without Jesus, we are breaking the first commandment, you shall have no other gods. But also, without Jesus, we have nothing. And all we have is our sin, and our complete and total unrighteousness. Jesus says: Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. So, in the same way, without Jesus’ words, then there is no eternal life, and there nothing but judgment, and passing from life into death. In John 8, Jesus says: I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.
Now, quite simply put, if people believe that they are righteous in themselves before God, then they won’t need Jesus. If they look at the 10 commandments, and think that they have kept them, then they won’t need Jesus. If they have not come to realise that they have sinned before God, then they won’t need Jesus. If they are not sorry for their sins, then they won’t need Jesus. If they do not know that they have deserved God’s wrath and displeasure, death, and eternal damnation, then they won’t need Jesus.
And this is the great and terrible destructive blindness that these Pharisees and scribes have. The reality is: they are sinners, they have not kept the 10 commandments, but have broken them, they should be sorry for their sins, and they do deserve God’s judgment and punishment.
So, what about you: are you one of these Pharisees or scribes? It is important for us to ask this question, because the vast majority of people are. Jesus says in the parable of the lost sheep, that the comfortable, self-righteous people are in the vast majority: the 99% of the world, if you like. These are the ninety-nine sheep that are left in the open country. The vast majority of people think that they are righteous, that other people are sinners (but not themselves!), and that they need no repentance.
But in actual fact, they really do need repentance. You might remember the story about a rich ruler. When Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, he says: All these I have kept from my youth. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, and follow me.” Now, Jesus is not saying that people are not allowed to own things and have possessions, or even that they are not allowed to be rich. But Jesus is showing to this man his sin. He is preaching the law to a man who thinks that he is righteous in his own eyes. We then read: When he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. He didn’t need Jesus, because he was comfortable enough with his wealth. Jesus then says to him: let me show you the reason why you won’t come to me: it’s your wealth. What is your idol? What causes you to wander away from Jesus? What is he searching for you about? What does he want you to repent of?
So many of us think that we are good people. Jesus says: No one is good except God alone. So, who is the liar? You or Jesus? We read in Romans: None is righteous, no, not one. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And so, we see how this parable is preached against the Pharisees and Scribes who grumble against the tax collectors and sinners, and who think they are righteous, who think they need no repentance.
So, on the other hand, Jesus preaches this parable to strengthen and comfort those who need to hear the Gospel. We read: The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. This is an interesting way of speaking! Why does the evangelist single out the tax collectors? Well, the tax collectors were a particular group of people who were often Jewish, but were collecting tax for the Romans. They were people who were seen as traitors to their own people. But then, it says: tax collectors and sinners. Of course, everyone is a sinner, even the Pharisees and the scribes were sinners. But these people who came to Jesus were people whose sin had become very public, and as a result, they had become famous or well-known because of their sin. So they were people who lived in public shame.
Now, what does Jesus say about them? He says: they are lost and need finding. They are sinners who need repentance.
But in all of this, Jesus shows them this lost sheep really has no idea what it has been doing. We read that these tax collectors and sinners were all coming to Jesus, but did they really know what they were coming for?
Actually, Jesus turns the whole thing around. The tax collectors and sinners, we read, were drawing near to hear Jesus. The Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling about it all, and the fact that Jesus was receiving them and eating with them. But Jesus turns the whole thing around, he turns everything upside down, because it is not them who have come to him, but it is him who has gone looking for them. Actually, Jesus like a good shepherd has left his eternal home and the comfort of his heavenly home, to descend to earth, to take on a human body and human flesh like all of us, so that he can look for us and find us.
He says: 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? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And, so Jesus is telling everyone there: I receive these tax collectors and sinners, because I have found them! They have no righteousness of their own, and they have sought their righteousness alone in me. And I am happy to forgive them, I am happy to stand in their place, I am happy to carry them over my shoulder. All the shame of having run away, and being lost, is completely done away with, because I carry them on my shoulders, rejoicing.
And so, when it comes to the Gospel, the Gospel is a message for those who have been crushed by the law. The Gospel is for people who know they are sinners, who know they have broken the Ten Commandments, who are sorry for their sins, who know that they have deserved God’s punishment and condemnation. There is hope for them to be saved, and that hope is Jesus Christ. He is the one who has found you, he is the one who has carried you home on his shoulders, and he is the one who rejoices over you.
We read: When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” 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.
So, when we repent, when we confess our sin to God, when we acknowledge our desperate need and our terrible failure before God, we should not despair. Because God has sent us a Saviour, and when we trust in this Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is our holy hope in heaven and earth combined, then there is a wonderful joy in heaven over us. God has sent us a Saviour, and he gives us baptism so that we would be joined personally to this Saviour and receive from him the gift of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of our sins. He also gives us the absolution, the forgiveness of sins spoken through the mouth of his servant, the pastor, so that we may be comforted and encouraged in light of our failures and failings of the past. He also gives us the Lord’s Supper, for our strengthening and encouragement, his Body and Blood given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. What is so important, when we consider our baptism, when we hear the absolution, when we come to the Lord’s Supper, is that we do not come as ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance, but we come to Jesus as his tax collectors and sinners, whom he has sought, whom he has found by his pure love and mercy and grace, and over whom he rejoices together with all the company of heaven and the angels. We have no righteousness at all in ourselves—Jesus is our everything, our salvation, our righteousness, our hope, our joy.
Now, in our reading, there is something wonderful here about the church. We are so used to thinking that a large group is a real church, and a small group is a sect. All throughout the world we see many massive church organisations talking and discussing, and often in what’s called the “ecumenical movement”, people see the great value of being together in an always increasing larger and larger group. But in actual fact, much of the time, what is really there is ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need repentance. We see so little repentance in the modern church—and if the church is to continue, and Jesus promises that it will, it is not necessarily the ninety-nine percent who are carrying it forward, but the repentant, the repentant, the repentant. So much of church politics is keeping the peace amongst people who won’t repent. But in actual fact, St Paul says: I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. Such a thing is not possible, if there is no repentance, and no need for the one shepherd, and his one voice. The church we see in our reading is the church of sinners gathered around their Saviour, and these sheep who have been found share in all the joy of heaven and the angels. Even Jesus tells us to beware of false teachers, that light has no fellowship with darkness, that the truth will set us free, not politics, not numbers. Many people don’t come to Jesus, because they look around at their fellow Pharisees and their fellow scribes, and they see their comfort in numbers, and so stay with them. And so, the important thing is our parables is not the ninety-nine sheep, not the nine coins in the woman’s pocket, but the one, the one sheep, the one coin. And the one sheep in union with the shepherd, and the one coin is in the hand of the lady. And when there is one who is found, then there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Psalm 1 doesn’t say, blessed is the 20 or the 30 or the 200 or the 2000 of the 500 million, but blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, just one.
And so it is for us when we think about evangelism and reaching out to the lost. Jesus tells about a shepherd and a woman in her home, a man character and a lady character. I think he tells these two parables, because he wants us, both men and women, to think about our salvation the same way, as something that was lost, and is now found. But also, Jesus is the bridegroom of the church and the church is the bride. And so, just as the shepherd seeks for the lost, so also the church seeks for the lost. And so we join in with Jesus, the only and most perfect evangelist, the only and most perfect missionary, and we actually join in with his work. We can’t participate in this work at all, if we are Pharisees and scribes, who look down on others, and therefore look down on Jesus for receiving them and eating with them. Actually, Jesus receives us and eats with us, and he does so because he has taken upon himself our sin, and shares his righteousness with us. So, in the same way, when we think of searching for the lost and bringing them into the church, we should think about other people’s problems and sins and failures just as if they were ours, and it should be our great desire and ambition that the righteousness which we have only through Christ, would be theirs. We can’t bring people to repentance if we aren’t repentant ourselves, we can’t look for the lost if we are really just the ninety-nine righteous persons who don’t need repentance.
And so, when we come into the banquet of God himself today, we remember that we come to celebrate with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. This is the joy in heaven, the joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Amen.
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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