Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 19C)

September 11, 2022

Text: Luke 15:1-10

            At the conclusion of our Holy Gospel last week, in the words directly preceding our text this morning, our Lord Jesus bids, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 14:35; ESV).  Now, you know that this is not merely an admonition to listen carefully to the Savior’s Words, though it certainly is that.  But it is, more importantly, the giving of the gift.  The same Lord who said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Gen. 1:3), now says, “let him hear,” and there is hearing of God’s Word in faith.  That is how God’s almighty, creative Word… how Jesus’ Word… works.  It does what it says.  Now, what happens in the very next verse, the first verse of our Holy Gospel this morning?  The “tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to” what?... “hear him” (Luke 15:1; emphasis added).  The Lord has given a gift to, of all people, tax collectors… government bureaucrats, traitors to the nation (and to God!) who routinely enrich themselves by their collusion with Caesar and the Romans… and sinners… not just the “we’re all sinners” variety of sinner, but those people whose reputations are tarnished by significant and public moral failings, adulterers, prostitutes, drunks, cheaters, the crude and the cruel.  You know the type.  Those who don’t belong in the company of Pharisees and “good Christian folk.”  To these people, Jesus gives ears to hear.  And they draw near to Him.  And Jesus actually receives them, and even eats with them. 

            And it’s a scandal!  It’s a scandal such that the Pharisees grumble.  “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (v. 2).  The Pharisees, now… think about who they are.  True Israelites.  Bible believers.  The conservatives of the Jewish religion.  Unlike the Sadducees, who are the liberal mainline Protestants of Judaism, the Pharisees believe and confess that the Hebrew Scriptures, in their totality, and in every individual part, are God’s inspired and inerrant Word.  They believe and confess God’s direct involvement in their daily lives, the spiritual world, the soul, angels and demons, the afterlife, and, perhaps most significantly, the resurrection of the dead.  And this is to say, they had already been given ears to hear.  God gave them ears to hear.  They are Covenant people.  Circumcised on the 8^th day.  Synagogue every Sabbath.  They know the Scriptures.  They keep the Scriptures, meticulously.  Every jot and tittle.  And I want you to understand, this is all good.  All of this reflects well on the Pharisees. 

            But they fall flat on the most important point.  When it comes to Jesus, and their great need for salvation in Him, and, yes, even for morally upstanding Pharisees, the forgiveness of sins only He can give, the Pharisees have plugged their ears.  They have ears, but they will not hear.  In fact, who can hear over their grumbling?  And in this, aren’t they just like their ancestors in the wilderness, the children of Israel?  God gives a gift, totally by grace, apart from any merit or worthiness on their part.  Manna every morning.  Quail in the evening.  Water from the rock.  Deliverance from slavery in Egypt.  Victory over their enemies.  For forty years, their clothes do not wear out, and their feet do not swell.  And how do the Israelites respond?  With rejoicing?  Thanksgiving and praise to God?  No.  They grumble.  And they want to go back.

            Just like the Pharisees and scribes in our text.  They grumble.  The Greek word (much like the English word) is onomatopoetic (that’s a high falutin’ term that means the word sounds like the thing it indicates).  To grumble, in Greek, is γογγύζω.  You can hear it, can’t you, the grumbling?... γογγύζω, γογγύζω… grumble, grumble, grumble…  About what?  God’s grace.  His unmerited favor.  For sinners.  A grace they believe they do not need, because they think they are righteous in and of themselves, by their own works, by their meticulous keeping of the Law, and especially in comparison with these obvious sinners who are drawing near to Jesus and sitting at Table with Him.  The Pharisees are not drawing near to Jesus.  They are drawing away.  Away from Jesus.  In rejection and unbelief.  The sins that are plugging their ears to Jesus’ gracious words are pride, despising their neighbors (in other words, lovelessness), and above all, self-justification… which always rejects the justification only Jesus can give.

            Now, Jesus… His whole business is the justification of sinners.  It is His whole reason for coming in our flesh.  He is absolutely consumed with it.  He’s obsessed.  In fact, He is just the kind of Shepherd who would leave the 99 and go after the lost one until He finds it.  And when He finds it, He lays it on His shoulders rejoicing.  He rescues His sheep, brings it home, feeds it, waters it, binds up its wounds, and throws a party.  And all heaven joins in!  There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.  Of course, there are no such persons who need no repentance.  That’s just what the Pharisees miss.  That’s just what too many of us, all too often, miss.  It plugs our ears, so that we cannot hear.

            Yes, when Jesus goes after the lost one, He is going after the tax collectors, the adulterers, the prostitutes, the drunks, the cheaters, the crude and the cruel.  But He’s also going after the Pharisees and scribes, if only they would stop dancing around with their ears plugged, singing γογγύζω, γογγύζω. 

            And He is even going after Bible-believing, confessional Missouri-Synod Lutherans who grumble, in spite of God’s great grace to them, and even because of God’s great grace to them and to others. 

            Yes, believe it or not, He is even going after Bible-believing, confessional Missouri-Synod pastors, who, believe me, grumble with the best of the Israelites and Pharisees. 

            We grumble because of all God’s gifts He showers down upon us freely, on account of Christ. 

            We grumble because those people over there, especially that guy, after all he has done… you know the one… they don’t deserve God’s grace. 

            And we grumble because, frankly Lord, I deserve better from You… can you imagine?!  But that’s what we say when we grumble!  And that’s why Jesus has to come after us. 

            And He does.  All the way down into the valley of the shadow of death.  He lays us on His shoulders and carries us up Golgotha.  We are His cross.  We are His suffering.  We are His death.  We greedy, adulterous, gluttonous, drunken, crude and cruel, loveless, prideful, self-righteous snobs… are beloved sheep of the Good Shepherd… who lays down His life for the sheep.  He is crucified, dead and buried, to atone for our sins.  For us!  And then He gets up again and throws a party.  Rejoice!  Jesus is risen from the dead.  Take, eat; this is My Body.  Take, drink; this is My Blood.  Given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins. 

            What pride infects you, what self-justifications do you make, who do you despise and what grudges do you hold, that you are kept from hearing these gracious, life-giving Words?  What do you grumble about?  I know you do.  I certainly do.  Repent of all of that.  And rejoice!  With angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven.  Jesus sinners doth receive.  He does not receive those who insist on their own righteousness, thank you very much.  He receives sinners, and only sinners, who are justified by His blood and death and resurrection, righteous, not with their own righteousness, but with His.  And that means you.  And it also means them.  You know… them.

            Which brings us to the woman searching for the lost coin.  I take her to be the Church, the Bride of Christ.  She does what her Bridegroom, the Good Shepherd, does.  She goes after the lost.  The ten silver coins are literally ten drachmas, a drachma being a day’s wage.  So, this is not some nickel she dropped between the cushions of the couch.  This is significant money.  And the ten coins are her dowry, strung together as a headdress for her to wear on her wedding day, ten days’ wages to be saved up and treasured for a rainy day.  The coins are those individuals the Church is given to treasure.  That is to say, you and me.  When one of the coins falls away lost, what does Lady Church do?  She lights a lamp… and I take that to be the preaching of God’s Word, which is a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path (Ps. 119:105)… and she sweeps the house until she finds it.  That is to say, the Church, which is all of us together, collectively, goes after any individual one of us who falls away lost.  With what?  With God’s Word.  We don’t grumble about the person (“Well, saw that one coming… I never thought he was a real Christian, anyway!”).  We pray for him.  We search him out.  We sweep the house until we find him.  And when we find him, we shine the light of God’s Word on him.  And we ask Jesus Christ graciously to give him ears and let him hear.  When he repents, we wipe away all the dust and grime of his sins by speaking Christ’s Absolution.  And we rejoice!  Rejoicing is the opposite of grumbling.  We rejoice that the lost one is restored.  That he is here, back with the Church where he belongs, by grace, just as we are.  And that means the party, the Feast!  Right here at the altar.  Rejoice with me.  What was lost has now been found. 

            The Pharisees and scribes speak the truth in spite of themselves: “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”  What tremendous Good News!  Jesus receives those guilty of the most heinous and scandalous sins, with full and free forgiveness, and a place, here, at the Table.  And He even receives Pharisees and Good Christian folk when they turn from their self-righteousness to the righteousness of Christ alone (just ask St. Paul).  That is to say, when they believe the Gospel… when you believe the Gospel: Jesus sinners doth receive.  Jesus receives even you.  Yes, you.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.