Micah 7:18-20; 1 Peter 5:6-11; St Luke 15:1-32
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Though it makes for a lengthier than usual Gospel reading, these three parables - the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son - belong together. They form a triptych, of sorts, exemplifying the work of the Blessed Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To hear one of them in isolation, or two apart from the third, would not complete their purpose in our Lord’s telling them. The beautifully crafted picture would be incomplete.
In the Lost Sheep you have the beloved picture of the Son, the Good Shepherd, who seeks out the one lost among a hundred. Leaving the ninety-nine in open country, He searches diligently for the one who has gone astray. But it is not a stroll in the park. The Chief Shepherd walks alone, surrounded by danger on all sides, at risk and prey to ferocious beasts. Think of young David fighting off bears and lions while tending the herds. Our window has the image much more serene and domesticated.
Upon finding the animal hidden beneath the bush, the Shepherd is not exasperated, He does not scold and rebuke her, but would crush the head of the serpent which is her terror. He loving pulls her out, cleans her off, removing the thorns and thistles, and then lifts her to His shoulder, bearing the full weight of her disobedience and foolishness. He carries her home, not forcing her to walk, but doing the work Himself, eager to rejoice with the whole company over the lost sheep now found. Isaiah says, All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Is 53:6). And the author to the Hebrews says, Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame (Heb 12:3). As the Head of the Church rejoices over the finding of one lost sheep, so does the Body of Christ rejoice together over one sinner who repents (1 Cor 12:26).
This is one side panel of the triptych. The other is the Lost Coin. Here you have the image of repentance and salvation from the perspective of the person and work of the Holy Spirit of Christ, Wisdom Incarnate, as you heard last week from Proverbs. For the Holy Spirit works, as you confess in the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed, through the Word of the Gospel and the gifts of the Holy Sacraments. Where? In the holy, Christian Church on earth, whom is kept with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. The Bride of Christ is privileged to be the vehicle of the on going work of the Spirit of Christ following His Ascension.
She seeks out those who are bestowed to her in love, the treasures of her dowry, the beloved for whom our Lord Christ shed His precious blood. The Church lights the Lamp of Christ’s Word and lifts high His saving Light, seeking diligently to find the poor soul redeemed by the blood of Christ, the one who bears the image of God from creation and who, by the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, bears the image of the Incarnate God, belonging to Him, purchased with His blood to be His own, to live under Him in His kingdom is righteousness, innocence and blessedness, rejoicing with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.
And so you have the painted the pictures of the person and work of the Son and the Holy Spirit, the two side panels. But the center panel of these artful parables is the Lost Son, better called the Compassionate Father. It is the pearl and crown of all the parables of Scripture. Some have even called it the Evangelium in Evangelio, the Gospel within the Gospel. It is a glorious picture of the compassionate heart of God our Father in Jesus Christ our Lord.
There was a man who had two sons. And the young of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.” Levitically he had a right to a small portion, half of that which was to be bestowed upon the first born. But his demand is despicable and betrays the heart of man: the desire to be independent of God; to live as if He did not matter and I mattered most. “I shall take the ordering of my life into my own hands. I’m tired of your house and your rules. Old man, your dead to me.”
He divided his property between them. Already you see the mercy of the father. The son’s heart had already left home. Forcing him to stay would have been futile. God will not force Himself on anyone who does not want Him. Those who seek to exchange the truth of God for a lie, He will, in His wisdom, given them over to their desires seeking to humble them, with the intent and purpose of eventually realizing the sheer emptiness of their choices and the loss of true love at home in the house of their Father.
Gathering his portion, the younger son took a journey into a far country away from the watchful eye of his father, out from under his guidance and protection. He put his father not only far from him physically, but spiritually. Far from his conscience so that he could indulge in his passions and lust, live recklessly and lawlessly, selfishly justifying his behavior.
This, beloved, is truly death. To wander away from the house and home of our Father, to journey into the far country of our own sins and delusions, thinking that indulgence is freedom is the broad road that leads to death. Christ Jesus says, Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin (Jn 8:34). What are you practicing? He who wants to use the world as his servant to minister to his pleasures ends up becoming the world’s slave. In misery he consumes the husks of his immorality, always hungry, but never satisfied. For the food of beasts cannot appease the disordered cravings of man. St Augustine wrote, “You have made us for Yourself and our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they rest in You” (Confessions, Book 1).
The stern discipline of divine mercy has its effect on this young man. And he came to himself and said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!” “He came to himself.” In remembering who his father is he began to realize anew who he truly was. When God speaks, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me (Ex 20:2-3), you begin to realize your identity as well. To be found in God is to find oneself too.
This is the beginning of repentance. I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But he lacks true faith. He designs to earn his way back; to merit his father’s good graces, in time, by living as a servant, not a son. But the mercy of the father, the compassion of the man whom he despised cause him to arise and go to him. He has confidence in his loving kindness and hopes that as he was once a son, he can now, by grace, be made a slave.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion. Compassion. The significance of this word cannot be overlooked. εσπλαγχνισθη. From splanchna. This onomatopoeic word pertaining to the disemboweling of the animal sacrifices. This deep, visceral, guttural mercy and extreme pity that moves one to actions. In the Gospels this word is used one of Christ and God the Father. You heard it from Micah: Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot.
Such compassion moves Him to action. The father ran and embraced his son and kissed him. He does not wait for the son to come all the way. He doesn’t make him grovel on the front porch. He runs to him, embracing and kissing him. Then, having received such evidences of the father’s love, the son confesses, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Gone is the meritorious plea of service. Gone the notion of working his way back into the father’s graces. He owns his sin and pleads the father’s mercy.
And he hears no mention of his licentiousness, no discussion of his immortality and impudence. Only the loving kindness of a father who will not have an apprentice serving in fear, but welcome home a son, embracing him in the arms of his love and restoring him to full fellowship.
So it is with your Father who art in heaven. Returning to Him in repentance and faith He embraces a child, not a slave. He does not throw your sins in your face, but casts them into the depths of the sea. In deep compassion He clothes you in the robe of the Son, Christ’s own righteousness that covers all your sins. He places on your hand the signet ring of the family, the pledge and seal of His Holy Spirit. And on your once dirty feet, which He stoops to wash, He fits the Gospel of peace, that you may walk in His forgiveness and love as a beloved child.
For indeed He has slaughtered the fattened calf to ensure your homecoming. That is, your true Father has fattened up His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, with your sin. He laid upon Him all your iniquity and led Him to be slaughtered in order that His blood might mark you as His own and assure you of His forgiveness and reconciliation. Though you suffer out here in this barren wasteland, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
This is the extravagant grace and prodigal mercy of your Father who art in heaven. He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love. His anger is truly abated for it has been poured out on Christ Jesus, His Son, our Lord, who resisted the devouring jaws of the devil, destroying that imposter of a lion with the ferocity of His love as the true Lion of the Tribe of Judah. He has devoured death by His death and brought life and immortality to light. He has prepared a place for your in the Father’s house. He welcomes you as the Son who sets you free. Free to serve and worship Him without fear, holy and righteousness in His sight, all the days of your life.
For you were once dead, wandering far from your Father’s home. Dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked, but now you are alive in Christ Jesus our Lord who loved you and gave Himself up for you. With what joy shall you celebrate with the household of faith! Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Or shall you stand outside, as the older brother, refusing to enter into the fellowship on account of the mercy and joy of others? Recall the original context of this parable. Tax collectors and sinner were drawing near to hear Jesus. And the Pharisees and scribes grumbled saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He told them these parables.
It is true that according to your pedigree and position you are the younger son in this parable. Perhaps you don’t have a remarkable testimony in the eyes of some who count such nonsense as Christian. You needn’t boast of your lawlessness. But you did live an immoral and self-righteousness life, an enemy and hater of God, wandering far from your Father’s home in shame and death. And then, according to God’s mercy, you were baptized two weeks after you were born.
Or maybe you weren’t. Maybe it was two years. Or twenty. Or more. At any rate, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. The compassionate character of your true Father raised you from your pigsty and carried you home in mercy and love.
Be on guard then, that as you live here, having been made a son and an heir, learning discipline and obedience, not in servile fear, but in joyous faith, that you do not become as the older brother. Do not begrudge those whose past is more checkered than your own. Some sins are obvious and seen by all. Others are hidden from the world, but still known to God. No one is righteous. Not one. Do not presume on the goodness of God for yourself while withholding it from others.
The older brother experiences kind of the opposite of “schadenfreude.” Instead of being happy at the misfortune of another, he is angry at the joy of another, and so misses out on true joy himself. In wanting the goat with his friends he refuses the Lamb with His Farther. To refuse to eat with redeemed and forgiven sinners is to refuse fellowship with Christ Jesus Himself who ate with tax collectors and sinners. In the end, Jesus leaves the older brother still standing on the porch. The Father, in love, goes out to him. Son, you are always with Me, and all that is Mine is yours. Does he repent and go in?
How about you? Whether you have wandered far from home or have been here all along. Whether you have lived recklessly or strived for obedience, your Father’s compassion and love are for you. He withholds no good thing from you. But all that He has is yours by faith in Christ Jesus. Do not look to get something from God. For you posses all things in Him. As our Lord Jesus has promised: All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that the Holy Spirit will take what is Mine and declare it to you (Jn 16:15). Children, you are always with Him and all that is His is yours. It is fitting to celebrate and be glad, for you, and all your brothers and sisters were dead, but are now alive; were lost and are found.
The Lamb has been slain, yet behold He lives; His Body and His Blood are for you, for the forgiveness of your sins, reconciliation and peace and joy; patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Come in to your Father’s house, rejoice with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, for Jesus still receives sinners and eats with them.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Though it makes for a lengthier than usual Gospel reading, these three parables - the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son - belong together. They form a triptych, of sorts, exemplifying the work of the Blessed Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To hear one of them in isolation, or two apart from the third, would not complete their purpose in our Lord’s telling them. The beautifully crafted picture would be incomplete.
In the Lost Sheep you have the beloved picture of the Son, the Good Shepherd, who seeks out the one lost among a hundred. Leaving the ninety-nine in open country, He searches diligently for the one who has gone astray. But it is not a stroll in the park. The Chief Shepherd walks alone, surrounded by danger on all sides, at risk and prey to ferocious beasts. Think of young David fighting off bears and lions while tending the herds. Our window has the image much more serene and domesticated.
Upon finding the animal hidden beneath the bush, the Shepherd is not exasperated, He does not scold and rebuke her, but would crush the head of the serpent which is her terror. He loving pulls her out, cleans her off, removing the thorns and thistles, and then lifts her to His shoulder, bearing the full weight of her disobedience and foolishness. He carries her home, not forcing her to walk, but doing the work Himself, eager to rejoice with the whole company over the lost sheep now found. Isaiah says, All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Is 53:6). And the author to the Hebrews says, Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame (Heb 12:3). As the Head of the Church rejoices over the finding of one lost sheep, so does the Body of Christ rejoice together over one sinner who repents (1 Cor 12:26).
This is one side panel of the triptych. The other is the Lost Coin. Here you have the image of repentance and salvation from the perspective of the person and work of the Holy Spirit of Christ, Wisdom Incarnate, as you heard last week from Proverbs. For the Holy Spirit works, as you confess in the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed, through the Word of the Gospel and the gifts of the Holy Sacraments. Where? In the holy, Christian Church on earth, whom is kept with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. The Bride of Christ is privileged to be the vehicle of the on going work of the Spirit of Christ following His Ascension.
She seeks out those who are bestowed to her in love, the treasures of her dowry, the beloved for whom our Lord Christ shed His precious blood. The Church lights the Lamp of Christ’s Word and lifts high His saving Light, seeking diligently to find the poor soul redeemed by the blood of Christ, the one who bears the image of God from creation and who, by the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, bears the image of the Incarnate God, belonging to Him, purchased with His blood to be His own, to live under Him in His kingdom is righteousness, innocence and blessedness, rejoicing with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.
And so you have the painted the pictures of the person and work of the Son and the Holy Spirit, the two side panels. But the center panel of these artful parables is the Lost Son, better called the Compassionate Father. It is the pearl and crown of all the parables of Scripture. Some have even called it the Evangelium in Evangelio, the Gospel within the Gospel. It is a glorious picture of the compassionate heart of God our Father in Jesus Christ our Lord.
There was a man who had two sons. And the young of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.” Levitically he had a right to a small portion, half of that which was to be bestowed upon the first born. But his demand is despicable and betrays the heart of man: the desire to be independent of God; to live as if He did not matter and I mattered most. “I shall take the ordering of my life into my own hands. I’m tired of your house and your rules. Old man, your dead to me.”
He divided his property between them. Already you see the mercy of the father. The son’s heart had already left home. Forcing him to stay would have been futile. God will not force Himself on anyone who does not want Him. Those who seek to exchange the truth of God for a lie, He will, in His wisdom, given them over to their desires seeking to humble them, with the intent and purpose of eventually realizing the sheer emptiness of their choices and the loss of true love at home in the house of their Father.
Gathering his portion, the younger son took a journey into a far country away from the watchful eye of his father, out from under his guidance and protection. He put his father not only far from him physically, but spiritually. Far from his conscience so that he could indulge in his passions and lust, live recklessly and lawlessly, selfishly justifying his behavior.
This, beloved, is truly death. To wander away from the house and home of our Father, to journey into the far country of our own sins and delusions, thinking that indulgence is freedom is the broad road that leads to death. Christ Jesus says, Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin (Jn 8:34). What are you practicing? He who wants to use the world as his servant to minister to his pleasures ends up becoming the world’s slave. In misery he consumes the husks of his immorality, always hungry, but never satisfied. For the food of beasts cannot appease the disordered cravings of man. St Augustine wrote, “You have made us for Yourself and our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they rest in You” (Confessions, Book 1).
The stern discipline of divine mercy has its effect on this young man. And he came to himself and said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!” “He came to himself.” In remembering who his father is he began to realize anew who he truly was. When God speaks, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me (Ex 20:2-3), you begin to realize your identity as well. To be found in God is to find oneself too.
This is the beginning of repentance. I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But he lacks true faith. He designs to earn his way back; to merit his father’s good graces, in time, by living as a servant, not a son. But the mercy of the father, the compassion of the man whom he despised cause him to arise and go to him. He has confidence in his loving kindness and hopes that as he was once a son, he can now, by grace, be made a slave.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion. Compassion. The significance of this word cannot be overlooked. εσπλαγχνισθη. From splanchna. This onomatopoeic word pertaining to the disemboweling of the animal sacrifices. This deep, visceral, guttural mercy and extreme pity that moves one to actions. In the Gospels this word is used one of Christ and God the Father. You heard it from Micah: Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot.
Such compassion moves Him to action. The father ran and embraced his son and kissed him. He does not wait for the son to come all the way. He doesn’t make him grovel on the front porch. He runs to him, embracing and kissing him. Then, having received such evidences of the father’s love, the son confesses, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Gone is the meritorious plea of service. Gone the notion of working his way back into the father’s graces. He owns his sin and pleads the father’s mercy.
And he hears no mention of his licentiousness, no discussion of his immortality and impudence. Only the loving kindness of a father who will not have an apprentice serving in fear, but welcome home a son, embracing him in the arms of his love and restoring him to full fellowship.
So it is with your Father who art in heaven. Returning to Him in repentance and faith He embraces a child, not a slave. He does not throw your sins in your face, but casts them into the depths of the sea. In deep compassion He clothes you in the robe of the Son, Christ’s own righteousness that covers all your sins. He places on your hand the signet ring of the family, the pledge and seal of His Holy Spirit. And on your once dirty feet, which He stoops to wash, He fits the Gospel of peace, that you may walk in His forgiveness and love as a beloved child.
For indeed He has slaughtered the fattened calf to ensure your homecoming. That is, your true Father has fattened up His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, with your sin. He laid upon Him all your iniquity and led Him to be slaughtered in order that His blood might mark you as His own and assure you of His forgiveness and reconciliation. Though you suffer out here in this barren wasteland, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
This is the extravagant grace and prodigal mercy of your Father who art in heaven. He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love. His anger is truly abated for it has been poured out on Christ Jesus, His Son, our Lord, who resisted the devouring jaws of the devil, destroying that imposter of a lion with the ferocity of His love as the true Lion of the Tribe of Judah. He has devoured death by His death and brought life and immortality to light. He has prepared a place for your in the Father’s house. He welcomes you as the Son who sets you free. Free to serve and worship Him without fear, holy and righteousness in His sight, all the days of your life.
For you were once dead, wandering far from your Father’s home. Dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked, but now you are alive in Christ Jesus our Lord who loved you and gave Himself up for you. With what joy shall you celebrate with the household of faith! Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Or shall you stand outside, as the older brother, refusing to enter into the fellowship on account of the mercy and joy of others? Recall the original context of this parable. Tax collectors and sinner were drawing near to hear Jesus. And the Pharisees and scribes grumbled saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He told them these parables.
It is true that according to your pedigree and position you are the younger son in this parable. Perhaps you don’t have a remarkable testimony in the eyes of some who count such nonsense as Christian. You needn’t boast of your lawlessness. But you did live an immoral and self-righteousness life, an enemy and hater of God, wandering far from your Father’s home in shame and death. And then, according to God’s mercy, you were baptized two weeks after you were born.
Or maybe you weren’t. Maybe it was two years. Or twenty. Or more. At any rate, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. The compassionate character of your true Father raised you from your pigsty and carried you home in mercy and love.
Be on guard then, that as you live here, having been made a son and an heir, learning discipline and obedience, not in servile fear, but in joyous faith, that you do not become as the older brother. Do not begrudge those whose past is more checkered than your own. Some sins are obvious and seen by all. Others are hidden from the world, but still known to God. No one is righteous. Not one. Do not presume on the goodness of God for yourself while withholding it from others.
The older brother experiences kind of the opposite of “schadenfreude.” Instead of being happy at the misfortune of another, he is angry at the joy of another, and so misses out on true joy himself. In wanting the goat with his friends he refuses the Lamb with His Farther. To refuse to eat with redeemed and forgiven sinners is to refuse fellowship with Christ Jesus Himself who ate with tax collectors and sinners. In the end, Jesus leaves the older brother still standing on the porch. The Father, in love, goes out to him. Son, you are always with Me, and all that is Mine is yours. Does he repent and go in?
How about you? Whether you have wandered far from home or have been here all along. Whether you have lived recklessly or strived for obedience, your Father’s compassion and love are for you. He withholds no good thing from you. But all that He has is yours by faith in Christ Jesus. Do not look to get something from God. For you posses all things in Him. As our Lord Jesus has promised: All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that the Holy Spirit will take what is Mine and declare it to you (Jn 16:15). Children, you are always with Him and all that is His is yours. It is fitting to celebrate and be glad, for you, and all your brothers and sisters were dead, but are now alive; were lost and are found.
The Lamb has been slain, yet behold He lives; His Body and His Blood are for you, for the forgiveness of your sins, reconciliation and peace and joy; patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Come in to your Father’s house, rejoice with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, for Jesus still receives sinners and eats with them.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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