Micah 7:18-20/1 Timothy 1:12-17/St Luke 15:1-10
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The Lord Jesus invites you to gather together with Him, here, in His House, to rejoice with Him over the repentance and recovery of the lost. For He has become your neighbor and He has made you His friend. And He is truly joyful over those who were lost, whom He has found and restored to His flock. In fact, there is more joy in heaven over those who were lost and are found, than would be if none of the sheep had ever been lost. Because His joy and His glory are found in His full and free salvation of sinners by grace.
Therefore, the sax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus to hear Him. These sinners are the very same of which you heard in last Sunday’s parable: the poor and crippled and blind and lame who were brought to the Great Banquet of the King.
And here they are eating with Jesus! And what a banquet it is! For any meal with Jesus, whether bread and fish in the wilderness or an apple and yogurt at lunch, is a banquet, no matter the occasion or the fare. For everything is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. Do you not invite Jesus to dine with you, saying, “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let Thy gifts to us be blessed?” Learn then to receive your daily bread with thanksgiving, for Jesus sinners doth receive.
He does not intend that you, nor anyone, should be self-righteous, but that you be righteous by His mercy, by His gracious forgiveness; righteous by His own righteousness.
What Man of you is like that? There is only the one Man, this Man, who receives sinners and eat with them. More than that, this one Man goes looking for sinners and finds them. Girding Himself in His incarnation He goes after His own until He has found it. And when He has found it, He does not punish His sheep or harshly drive it back to the fold, but He shoulders the burden of the lost sheep, bearing in Himself the cost of the sheep’s wandering and the agony of its restoration, carefully caring it home, rejoicing over it in love.
Jesus is not only the only Man like this, but He is also the only true God, the Father’s Son, your Great Good Shepherd, who has compassion upon you and upon all. He does not retain His anger forever, but delights in steadfast love. He pardons transgression and passes over rebellion. He treads your iniquities under His wounded feet, and has cast all your sins into the depths of the baptismal sea.
Therefore do not pass judgment on those whom He receives. You are not more just or righteous than God, but have received mercy according to His compassion and love, though you too were once a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. Therefore do not grumble against the Lord Jesus on account of His mercy toward sinners. For the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinner, of whom I (we) are the foremost. As He has been merciful toward you, He would have you rejoice in His mercy toward others.
He would have you rejoice, likewise, in your fellow sinners, whom His mercy has found and brought home to Himself in repentance and faith. When they are not here, but off elsewhere, seek them out, even as Christ your Shepherd, has sought and found you and brought you to Himself in love. When they come, having been away for some time, do not grumble or look askance at them, but rejoice over them, even as the angels in heaven rejoice over you and your repentance according to the good and gracious will of God.
For this Man receives sinners and eats with them! So does He receive you at His Table and eat with you. And so do you, His friend and neighbor, receive sinners and eat with them here in His House. Where their sins may be different, whether more or less obvious than yours, do not pass judgment upon them, but rejoice over them, as the angels of God rejoice.
For who is that Woman who searches so carefully all day long to find the one lost coin? Is she not the Bride of this Man, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, who bears His Name and lives by His Word and Spirit, having in her the heart and mind of Christ Jesus? Are not her coins, her riches, found, as St Lawrence declared before Emperor Valerian, in the poor, the outcast, the tax collectors and sinners who repent? The sick, desperately in need of the healing of the Divine Physician?
Therefore she lights the Lamp of the Word, holding it high as the very Light that scatters the darkness and breaks the gloom, by which the elect of the Lord are enlightened and gathered to Him. For in the bearing of the Light, that is, in the preaching of this Word, the house is de-arranged and the lost coin is found; which is to say, the world is turned upside down and sinners are found and illumined through the Word of Christ which is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.
If you belong to her - and you do, by the grace and mercy of Christ, who has ransomed you not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood, and innocent suffering and death - then do not merely tolerate the neighbors who sit in the other pews within the House of Christ, who kneel with you at His Altar, but love them with the heart of Christ, and rejoice in them as precious to Him. As it is written, Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight (Rm 12:15-16).
Dearly beloved, you also are precious to Him and He rejoiced over you in His great love for you. You are in House, not only by invitation, but because the Lord has sought you out and found you. He has borne you and all your burdens, all your sins and griefs and sorrows upon His shoulders, and He has brought you here, which is now also your home in Him. He receives repentant sinners and eats with them. Draw near to Him now to hear His Word: Take eat, take drink, this is My Body, this is My Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Eat and drink. Believe and live. And all of heaven rejoices over you. Here is hope for all who grieve: Jesus sinners doth receive.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The Lord Jesus invites you to gather together with Him, here, in His House, to rejoice with Him over the repentance and recovery of the lost. For He has become your neighbor and He has made you His friend. And He is truly joyful over those who were lost, whom He has found and restored to His flock. In fact, there is more joy in heaven over those who were lost and are found, than would be if none of the sheep had ever been lost. Because His joy and His glory are found in His full and free salvation of sinners by grace.
Therefore, the sax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus to hear Him. These sinners are the very same of which you heard in last Sunday’s parable: the poor and crippled and blind and lame who were brought to the Great Banquet of the King.
And here they are eating with Jesus! And what a banquet it is! For any meal with Jesus, whether bread and fish in the wilderness or an apple and yogurt at lunch, is a banquet, no matter the occasion or the fare. For everything is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. Do you not invite Jesus to dine with you, saying, “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let Thy gifts to us be blessed?” Learn then to receive your daily bread with thanksgiving, for Jesus sinners doth receive.
He does not intend that you, nor anyone, should be self-righteous, but that you be righteous by His mercy, by His gracious forgiveness; righteous by His own righteousness.
What Man of you is like that? There is only the one Man, this Man, who receives sinners and eat with them. More than that, this one Man goes looking for sinners and finds them. Girding Himself in His incarnation He goes after His own until He has found it. And when He has found it, He does not punish His sheep or harshly drive it back to the fold, but He shoulders the burden of the lost sheep, bearing in Himself the cost of the sheep’s wandering and the agony of its restoration, carefully caring it home, rejoicing over it in love.
Jesus is not only the only Man like this, but He is also the only true God, the Father’s Son, your Great Good Shepherd, who has compassion upon you and upon all. He does not retain His anger forever, but delights in steadfast love. He pardons transgression and passes over rebellion. He treads your iniquities under His wounded feet, and has cast all your sins into the depths of the baptismal sea.
Therefore do not pass judgment on those whom He receives. You are not more just or righteous than God, but have received mercy according to His compassion and love, though you too were once a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. Therefore do not grumble against the Lord Jesus on account of His mercy toward sinners. For the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinner, of whom I (we) are the foremost. As He has been merciful toward you, He would have you rejoice in His mercy toward others.
He would have you rejoice, likewise, in your fellow sinners, whom His mercy has found and brought home to Himself in repentance and faith. When they are not here, but off elsewhere, seek them out, even as Christ your Shepherd, has sought and found you and brought you to Himself in love. When they come, having been away for some time, do not grumble or look askance at them, but rejoice over them, even as the angels in heaven rejoice over you and your repentance according to the good and gracious will of God.
For this Man receives sinners and eats with them! So does He receive you at His Table and eat with you. And so do you, His friend and neighbor, receive sinners and eat with them here in His House. Where their sins may be different, whether more or less obvious than yours, do not pass judgment upon them, but rejoice over them, as the angels of God rejoice.
For who is that Woman who searches so carefully all day long to find the one lost coin? Is she not the Bride of this Man, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, who bears His Name and lives by His Word and Spirit, having in her the heart and mind of Christ Jesus? Are not her coins, her riches, found, as St Lawrence declared before Emperor Valerian, in the poor, the outcast, the tax collectors and sinners who repent? The sick, desperately in need of the healing of the Divine Physician?
Therefore she lights the Lamp of the Word, holding it high as the very Light that scatters the darkness and breaks the gloom, by which the elect of the Lord are enlightened and gathered to Him. For in the bearing of the Light, that is, in the preaching of this Word, the house is de-arranged and the lost coin is found; which is to say, the world is turned upside down and sinners are found and illumined through the Word of Christ which is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.
If you belong to her - and you do, by the grace and mercy of Christ, who has ransomed you not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood, and innocent suffering and death - then do not merely tolerate the neighbors who sit in the other pews within the House of Christ, who kneel with you at His Altar, but love them with the heart of Christ, and rejoice in them as precious to Him. As it is written, Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight (Rm 12:15-16).
Dearly beloved, you also are precious to Him and He rejoiced over you in His great love for you. You are in House, not only by invitation, but because the Lord has sought you out and found you. He has borne you and all your burdens, all your sins and griefs and sorrows upon His shoulders, and He has brought you here, which is now also your home in Him. He receives repentant sinners and eats with them. Draw near to Him now to hear His Word: Take eat, take drink, this is My Body, this is My Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Eat and drink. Believe and live. And all of heaven rejoices over you. Here is hope for all who grieve: Jesus sinners doth receive.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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