I don’t read Robert Farar Capon as often as I should. He’s quirky, but often has a different view of the text that many of us, if not all of us, never thought. Here’s Capon up to his old tricks again from Kingdom, Grace, Judgment:
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Grace works only on those it finds dead enough to raise.
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The unjust steward is the Christ-figure because he is a crook, like Jesus. The unique contribution of this parable to our understanding of Jesus is its insistence that grace cannot come to the world through respectability. Respectability regards only life, success, winning; it will have no truck with the grace that works by death and losing – which is the only kind of grace there is.
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Crux muscipulum diaboli, St. Augustine said: the cross is the devil’s mousetrap, baited with Jesus’ disreputable death. And it is a mousetrap for us, too. Jesus baits us criminals with his own criminality: as the shabby debtors in the parable were willing to deal only with the crooked steward and not with the upright lord, so we find ourselves drawn by the bait of a Jesus who winks at iniquity and makes friends of sinners – of us crooks, that is – and of all the losers who would never in a million years go near a God who knew what was expected of himself and insisted on what he expected of others.

You don’t like that? You think it lowers standards and threatens good order? You bet it does! And if you will cast your mind back, you will recall that is exactly why the forces of righteousness got rid of Jesus. Unfortunately, though, the church has never been able for very long to leave Jesus looking like the attractively crummy character he is: it can hardly resist the temptation to gussy him up into a respectable citizen. Even more unfortunately, it can almost never resist the temptation to gussy itself up into a bunch of supposedly perfect peaches, too good for the riffraff to sink their teeth into. But for all that, Jesus remains the only real peach – too fuzzy on the outside, nowhere near as sweet as we expected on the inside, and with the jawbreaking stone of his death right smack in the middle. And therefore he is the only mediator and advocate the likes of us will ever be able to trust, because like the unjust steward, he is no less a loser than we are – and like the steward, he is the only one who has even a chance of getting the Lord God to give us a kind word.
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Lucky for us we don’t have to deal with a just steward.

George Stöckhardt’s sermon for Trinity 9 in Gnade um Gnade is quite good. Here are a few choice quotes, some are extended quotes.

The wisdom which the Lord enjoins is but a special outflow and evidence of the wisdom that is generally fitting for the children of light, for believers. Not only in relation to their enemies, to the enemies of faith, but in whatever activity they are engaged in Christians should exhibit wisdom and prudence. It is laudable virtue, yes, a sacred Christian obligation wisely to make use of the time of our earthly sojourn, to number our days and make the best use of them. We live upon earth and are busy with earthly matters; we work, earn, but, sell as other people do. In our earthly vocation we have to associate with the children of this world, with the greedy, with adulterers, and others. Should we wish to discontinue these business dealings, we would have to quit the world. And so it is a Christian obligation in our association with people, in all our dealings, with the labor of our hands, to be intent upon what is pleasing to God, to let reflection, wisdom, understanding hold sway, as the apostle says, to walk as wise among fools.
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The main question for the children of light, for Christians is: How am I justified before God? How will I pass muster before God’s judgment on that great day, upon death, on Judgment Day? And Christians are foolish if they shove this most important question of all into the background and concern themselves with other useless, inconsequential questions and cares. True Christian wisdom is to keep one’s eyes fixed on the day of death, on Judgment Day. We are to learn this kind of wisdom from the children of the world. How they early on diligently guard against future reverses that affect temporal weal and woe, so, and all the more so, should we watch and pray so that we are not confounded on that day which determines our eternal weal and woe.
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We are children of light. By God’s grace and enlightenment we know the goal. We also know the way to the goal. We know how and by what means we are able to enter the eternal mansions. We are saved by God’s grace alone. The gift of God is eternal life. We know how we shall be able to pass muster on that day before the Supreme Judge. Through the blood and merit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through His suffering and death He has settled accounts for us. God’s grace and Christ’s merit are, however, offered to us in the Word, in the Gospel. For that reason everything depends upon our accepting the Gospel, upon receiving it in faith. That is the way to life. The Gospel, Word, and Sacrament are the means through which we receive grace and salvation. The Word of God that is being preached to us, that we have before us in the Bible, which also gives power and effect to the Sacraments, is the Church’s most precious, greatest treasure. It is ours. It is a veritable treasure that will never pass away.
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It is Christian wisdom for Christians to be conscientious and faithful stewards with respect to eternal, heavenly, genuine blessings, above all with respect to the Word of God that is able to save their souls. Ah, how foolish it is when one frivolously throws away and squanders God’s Word, yes, when one makes sparing use of God’s Word. In the end, upon the hour of death one will come up short, then one is too weak and too poor and does not have enough faith to stand firm amid the terrors of final judgment. We should learn wisdom from the children of the world. They apply all their energies and utilize all the means at their disposal to secure their home for the future, and they certainly do not build upon sand.
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We have before us an eternal goal, the heavenly treasure. Thus we should with an altogether different diligence, with much greater, ardent longing and zeal gather, expend, economize, gather for ourselves from God’s Word, from preaching, out of the Bible eternal, genuine treasures, day and night to busy ourselves with God’s Word and make use of every opportunity to profit from God’s Word when it is expounded and laid upon our hearts. In the end it will become apparent how wise and prudent we were after having richly provided for and nourished our soul with God’s Word throughout our earthly life.

As the children of the world are wise in their generation, in dealing with their own kind, in making wise use of their wealth and possessions, in like manner the children of light should deal wisely in their generation, should faithfully husband the blessings and gifts of the kingdom of heaven. This is what the Lord means.

But the Lord in our Gospel demands still more from the children of light, from Christians. He exhorts them also to make use of the world’s possessions, of unrighteous mammon, to their own purposes. As the children of the world many times reach over into the area of religion, into the Church, an area foreign to them, and now and then pretend piety and worship with Christians for discretion’s sake, for business and personal reasons, thus should Christians take in hand what is foreign to them, unrighteous mammon, the world’s possessions and direct the earthly to the advantage of the eternal, to the heavenly goal.

It is really wise to make everything useful and serviceable to the highest goal, to the salvation of souls. The Lord says: “Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon!” While the world, following the example of the unjust steward, this irresponsible spendthrift and miserable deceiver, makes unjust use of mammon, of possessions profiteers and deceives by means of wealth, thus should we make use of wealth, of the mammon of unrighteousness in the right way. And the right way is to make friends with mammon, that is, to make friends with the poor, gladly to do good and share with the poor. This is dealing not only justly, fairly, in love, but also wisely. This serves the final goal.

Of course, it is only by grace, for the sake of Christ’s merit, through faith that we are justified and saved, not through works. But the poor whom we have aided will on Judgment Day rise up and testify that we fed, gave drink to, clothed the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, and therefore through works demonstrated our faith, our Christianity, and will receive us into the everlasting habitations and thank us forever for what we did to them in time, and God upon their request will reward us out of grace into eternity.

Of course, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. But he who sows richly, who has made many friend with the mammon of unrighteousness, who has richly sacrificed for church, school, missions, and so for his part has won friends for God, he will reap bountifully there. Thus we want to evaluate all things, spiritual and temporal, all circumstances, all the days that God still gives us on earth, in relation to the final, eternal, blessed goal.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

The Alleluia verse for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity is from Psalm 78: Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! The Psalmist’s words are more than a command to listen to God’s Word. His words are a call to pay attention to what is preached and taught in the Christian Church. Jesus warns His disciples and, in turn, all of the Christian Church, to beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.

Jesus puts a verbal finger on perhaps the biggest problem today among Christians. We bless those who do not preach the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word and curse those who are not afraid to preach the Word in and out of season, but also to rebuke false teaching and false teachers. In other words, the Church blesses a curse and curses a blessing.

What has brought such a sad state of affairs into the Church? Perhaps it is a misunderstanding of the word “tolerance”. Tolerance is defined as “a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one’s own.” As Americans, we are tolerant of other religions in our country besides the Christian faith. Everyone is free to practice their own religion.

However, the Christian Church takes a much different stand than the dictionary. Christians dare not tolerate anything taught and preached that is not from God’s Word. We dare not tolerate someone preaching another god besides the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We dare not tolerate someone who preaches another gospel different from the Gospel first proclaimed by the Apostles. Saint Paul says in Galatians; if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

“Accursed” in the New King James Version doesn’t quite grasp what New Testament Greek says. The word there is “anathema”. “Anathema” means “condemned to hell with no hope of salvation”. Consider Christ’s words about false teachers: whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Jesus is not talking about someone who once or twice lets false doctrine slip in a sermon or a Bible class. Jesus is talking about the pastor who consistently and knowingly preaches and teaches false doctrine. However, how can you spot false teaching if you can’t tell the difference between the Light from above and the light from below that masquerades as heavenly light?

Jesus has the answer. You will know them by their fruits. The fruits of false teaching are rotten fruit. What is rotten fruit? Rotten fruit places their trust in earthly princes. Rotten fruit is comfortable with a tolerant attitude toward the forgiveness of sins. Rotten fruit loves to bless and cannot curse. Rotten fruit has erased the words “sin” and “repentance” from their vocabulary. Rotten fruit follow the winds of what is popular and what makes for an easy, carefree life.

I’m sure at one time or another you’ve heard someone say that the Missouri Synod is “strict”. Perhaps you’ve heard someone say that their Missouri Synod congregation isn’t as “strict” as others are. Maybe you know someone who has left a Missouri Synod congregation because the congregation was too “strict”. There is a fine line between being “strict” and being legalistic. God save our synod from becoming too enamored with rules and regulations that displace the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Nevertheless, we should rejoice in being “strict”. Our church body is “strict” because our church body takes Holy Scripture at face value. We call a sin a sin. When our pastors preach repentance, they preach not only at those in the pew, but also to themselves. We also rejoice in God’s abounding grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Keeping Christ at the center of everything we say and do as a congregation keeps us from becoming legalistic and sectarian.

Christians are people who are all about change and hope. This change and hope is not in corporate structure or grassroots organizations who demand leadership with accountability. Christian change and hope is in the authority of God’s efficacious Word. Efficacious. There’s a word you don’t hear every day. Efficacy means the power to produce effects. If something is efficacious, that means it is able to produce the desired result. As a pastor, I fear we Missouri Synod Lutherans have forgotten about the efficacy of Holy Scripture.

Consider Jeremiah and all the prophets. When they spoke God’s Word, the desired result happened. In spite of false prophets, the pure Word of God prevailed. Sadly, many did not listen to the men who carried the burden of the Lord. They listened to men who proclaimed another gospel. They have their reward.

The change and hope proclaimed by prophets, apostles, and pastors is repentance and forgiveness. Repentance is a change of mind. No longer will you walk in the way of sin and death. You will walk in the way of forgiveness and life. Saint Paul says in the Epistle: if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. The way of the flesh leads to death. The way of the Spirit leads to life.

The way of the Holy Spirit is the Way of Jesus Christ. Christ’s Way is not one of prosperity and popularity. Christ’s Way is one of suffering and derision. Jesus would not have had it any other way. Jesus spoke the Truth and paid the ultimate price. Those who despised His Truth crucified Him. Yet through His wounds you have the ransom from sin and death. The blood and water pouring from His side bear witness to the Christian faith. His blood covers your sins. You are brought into eternal communion through water and the Word of God in your baptism. The blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses you from all sin, and His precious Body given for you on the cross are your food and drink in His Supper on the way through temporal life to eternal life.

There is another definition for tolerance: “the act or capacity of enduring; endurance”. The race to eternal life is a race of endurance. We go through much bitter pains and heartache to enter the kingdom of heaven. The race of endurance is made light because Jesus first ran that race before you. Jesus says come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. When we consider what Jesus went through to save us from sin and death, enduring physical pain and suffering is made light when Christ bears it for you. The same can be said for false teaching and false teachers. There will be tares among the wheat. The only perfect Church is the Church Triumphant. This does not mean we are tolerant of a false gospel. This means that the Church Militant must be just that: militant. While we watch, defend, and wait, Jesus cares for all our needs. His Word is like a fire and a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. God grant that we believe His Word breaks and hinders every evil plan of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature for the sake of the Truth.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

Gerhard’s Postil for Trinity 8 is fantastic. I recommend the entire sermon! The book is available here. There now follows some choice quotes.

Gerhard first summarizes Nehemiah 4:7-8. Nehemiah orders those working in Jerusalem to keep one hand on their sword and the other hand busy working. Gerhard continues:

You see, this is a perfect image of how church teachers, whom St. Paul depicts as spiritual master builders (1 Cor. 3:10), perform their work and ministry – by building the spiritual Jerusalem, i.e., the Christian Church. Namely, they are not only to finish the building of the spiritual edifice of the Church, but at the same time they are also to fight with the sword of the Spirit – the divine Word -  against those who try to hinder the building, and thus drive out all heretics and false teachers. For thus speaks St. Paul in Titus 1:9: “A bishop is empowered to admonish with the saving doctrine and to punish the gainsayers.” Using a different metaphor St. Paul charges the teachers to do this in Acts 20:28. Here he calls them shepherds whom the Holy Spirit has placed over God’s sheep to fertile pastures; but they also must protect them from attack by wolves, as St. Paul exhorts the bishops of Ephesus and, in their name, all church teachers. They must not only tend the sheep allotted to them but must also be alert and look out for wolves, that is, men who teach false doctrine.

Christ Jesus did not come into this world solely to become the Mediator and High Priest and, on the wood of the cross, to pay for the sins of the world, but also to be a teacher and to reveal God’s counsel and will to the human race. This is why in these passages He wishes to hold His example up for all faithful teachers. He not only steadfastly teaches the truth, but He also wishes to punish the Pharisaic and other counterfeit teachings of all times. Subsequently, He held a magnificent sermon for His disciples and those present as a sound beginning for His ministry, as described in chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew. By this He completed a significant portion of His work in building the spiritual Jerusalem; but, observe, with His other hand He reaches for His sword and drives away everything that could hinder this spiritual edifice.

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Since [false prophets'] outward appearance is so gracious, Christ elaborates further on how we must recognize false teachers. He says: “By their fruits you will know them.” This is not to be understood as the external fruits of life, for on occasion false teaching and outwardly impeccable behavior exist together while, conversely, healthy, wholesome teaching and a wicked life can exist together as well, of which Judas, Christ’s betrayer, is an example. Instead, one must distinguish the fruits of doctrine in and of themselves, whether they are good or evil, as is explained in Luke 6:43-44. If the fruits of doctrine are good, then the doctrine is also good; if they are bad and destructive, then the doctrine is also destructive and misleading.
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Each Christian, in his own right, must be vigilant against false prophets so that he will not follow them. For the Lord is not speaking here to His disciples only, but, as is evident in the beginning of Matthew 5, to all people. He admonishes them all to beware of false prophets. In like fashion in 1 John 4:1 John exhorts: “Beloved, do not believe in every spirit, but test whether the spirits are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” And in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 St. Paul says: “Test all things, and keep what is good.”

The loss of salvation depends for each of us on whether or not we permit ourselves to be separated from the one true Church by heresy and error. “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ is not His” (Rom. 8:9). However, the Spirit of Christ is solely in the spiritual body, that is, in the Christian Church. Anyone who is not a member of this body cannot have the Spirit of Christ and, therefore, cannot have salvation. This is foreshadowed in Noah’s Ark; anyone who was outside of it had to die miserably in the Great Flood. Hence, the Christian Church is the true Ark of Noah; those who remove themselves from it must suffer eternal destruction. The Christian Church is the sole sheepfold of the Lord; whichever little sheep runs away from it will certainly fall into the jaws of the wolf of the soul, the devil. The man who does not have the Church as his spiritual mother cannot have God as his Father.

One cannot come into the Church Triumphant, into the flock of the elect, unless one first comes from the Church Militant, from the true Church in this life. For this all hangs indivisibly together: the Lord god, His holy Word, right faith, true Church, and eternal salvation. Whoever has the one has all of them together; whoever loses one has lost them all. Therefore, each of us must be on guard with the utmost assiduousness so that we are not led away from God’s Word and the true Church by false prophets.
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Gerhard then gives three tests that identify false teaching.
1. All teaching must be tested and judged according to Scripture.
2. All doctrine is aimed at the benefit and consolation of mankind.
3. Whenever a teaching is in accord with God’s Word, its purpose is God’s glory and man’s wellbeing. Such teaching is also good, and those who proclaim it are good prophets. Conversely, whenever a teaching does not correspond to God’s Word its purpose is not for God’s glory nor man’s consolation; it is false and those who proclaim it are false prophets.
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Christianity does not consist of mere words, in merely confessing Christ and boasting of it, but in action and in deeds. Where there are no good fruits there is also no good tree; where Christ’s life is not present, that is, where there is not Christ’s love, Christ’s humbleness, and Christ’s meekness, there is also not Christ…. In and of themselves special gifts do not make the Christian nor the God-pleasing man. The Lord says that He will tell evildoers he does not know them and will not help them even if they have prophesied in His name, etc…. Hence, everything a man can know, regardless of what it may be, whether it be art, wisdom, and knowledge – even if he were equal to Solomon and were expert in all Scripture and all other human endeavors and willing to sacrifice life and limb – without true love and a true Christian heart he is nothing. This is why a simple layman, in whom true faith is working through pure love, is more pleasing to God than a great scholar in whom there is mere knowledge without love or humbleness. Thus, St. Paul says in Ephesians 3:19 that”…loving Christ is better than all knowledge.”

There is, therefore, nothing more foolish than when one boasts about his skills or other gifts. First of all, they are not his, but God’s. Just as little as a hand can boast about its dexterity is as little as a man can boast about his gifts, for they are mere tools of God. Hence, a man is not more pleasing to god because of his gifts.

Ultimately, a gifted man will be held more rigorously to account; for “…to whom much is given, much will be demanded of him” (Luke 12:48). God will not ask you how many gifts you haven, but how well you have used your gifts.

These from his book “The Sermon on the Mount“, available through CPH.

On verses 15-20:

The false prophets came disguised as legitimate bearers of the message of Jesus. Such a description does not seem to fit Jesus’ contemporaries, who clearly identified themselves as his adversaries. The warning against the false prophets is basically an anticipatory and eschatological word of Jesus projected into the community of his followers. The period of the false prophets comes when Jesus is no longer with them. It is the time between his departure from them and his appearance as the eschatological judge.

Of all the words used for the pastoral or clerical office in the New Testament, “prophet” was not used much beyond apostolic times. In Didache 11:3, it was still used of itinerant preachers. It can be taken as a general warning for any office which is entrusted with expounding the divine Word. Thus the false prophet wants to be understood as an authoritative spokesman for the message of Jesus within his community, but he has a message diametrically opposed to Jesus’.

Jesus uses two analogies in his discussion of the false prophets. The first involves animals and the second plants. In the first case the wolves appear in sheep’s clothing; a better translation might be sheepskins. Old Testament prophets dressed in sheepskins. Before the kill, the wolf gets in as close to the flock as it possibly can without being detected. The false teacher does the same thing in the community of the followers of Jesus. He remains undetected among the flock and thus causes no panic.

In the phrase, “You will know them by their fruits,” fruits refer to what not to expect of false teachers. The gathering of grapes from thorns and figs from thistles is an illustration to show just how impossible it is for the false teacher to have the reconciling attitude that the Sermon demands…nothing productive is suggested in the Sermon by the thorns and thistles, which are not only nonproductive, but destructive of the crop. The community of the followers of Jesus is not to expect anything good from the false prophets who sap it of its strength….Matthew mixes the metaphor. Rotten trees do not bring forth rotten fruit, but evil fruit, i.e., works which Satan, the Evil One, is causing.

In the light of the Sermon, these fruits are love of the neighbor, reconciliation with the enemy, and performing good to all people indiscriminately. Limiting these fruits to mere restraint from evil and sin would only be the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes. The false prophet may perpetrate no evil, but he refuses to be reconciled as is required by the Sermon.

On verses 21-23:

Here the Sermon calls the false prophets workers of iniquity in spite of their having prophesied, their doing great deeds, and their casting out demons in Jesus’ name. In the great judgment scene [of Matthew 25] the damned have failed to come to the aid of those who were in distress. At this point that scene provides a commentary on the Sermon’s chief requirement of reconciliation by loving the neighbor through concrete deeds. The greater righteousness is not mere ethical life, but one which does good to all people, including one’s enemies.

There can be no thought of universalism here, as if it were immaterial whether or not a person who does the will of the Father recognizes Jesus as Lord. This is impossible for three reasons. Though not everyone who calls Jesus Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, only those who have called him Lord will indeed enter. A delimiting factor has already been introduced. Second, the ones entering do the will of Jesus’ Father. It is for the performance of the Father’s will on earth that the church prays in the Third Petition, “Thy will be done.” Within the Sermon and indeed the entire gospel, Matthew intends that God’s will should be understood as the reconciliation of all persons to himself and to each other through the preaching of the Gospel and by its actual practice. This embraces the command to love within a christological perspective. Third, this is the first reference to God as “My Father.” With this Jesus claims a special relationship to God as his Son. Only the Son has full knowledge of the Father and is his only revealer (Matt. 11:27). He is both the one whom God has chosen to reveal himself and whom God has designated as the final Judge of all people.

To act or speak in the name of Jesus was to do it in his stead and with his authorization. Such a phrase as “in my name” points not to the ordinary acts by members of the community of Jesus, but those performed in a formal, liturgical way. In view here is an established church, and not clusters of disciples gathered in informal ad hoc groupings.

The word Matthew uses for Jesus’ addressing the false prophets is “confess” (homologein), and it is used in Matt. 10:32 for the church’s creed or confession of Jesus and for his acknowledging his disciples as his own. “Confess” carries with it a high degree of certainty in which the speaker allows no doubt, or possibility for change, in what he has said. It carries with it the idea of creedal certainty…. [T]he lawless ones are the false prophets who fail to do the Father’s will revealed in Jesus. This law is different from that of the Jews but it is the law of live to which all Christians must submit. But this is not law in the ordinary sense…. The workers of lawlessness are those who have not heeded the message of reconciliation now written down as the Sermon.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

So often we find ourselves saying “I want” or “I need” when the things we want or need are unnecessary. Call me a stickler for grammar, but it bothers me when I hear people at fast-food restaurants say “I need a hamburger” or “I want to super size my value meal”. We need fast food like we need a hole in the head! Thank God nutritional information is more public than before. One look at how many calories and the amount of sodium and saturated fat in fast food might keep you from “wanting” or “needing” it.

There is one thing needful: the treasure of the Gospel. Everything that we need to support this body and life flows from the Gospel. God’s providential care over earthly concerns is His merciful Gospel in action. The action shifts to the wilderness in Mark chapter eight where Jesus has been teaching for three days. Jesus has compassion on the multitude because of the long span of time without no food or drink.

It’s hard enough for us to go three hours without food or drink, let alone three days. We are blessed beyond reason with options for food and drink. A trip to the grocery store provides too many choices. The multitude doesn’t have a choice of what to eat. There are seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. They get what they get and they don’t complain.

Our Lord’s disciples, on the other hand, don’t so much complain as they don’t trust in what Jesus could do. Their question is how can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness? When your choices are limited, you should be thankful for what you receive. Nevertheless, we are spoiled with choices and options and decisions that we get to make instead of someone making that decision for us.

Adam once rejoiced in God making choices for him. The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed…. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. God lays it all out for Adam. “Here’s a garden. Go to work. It won’t be hard work. I’ll give you everything you need to make your food grow. Look at all the trees I have given you. Enjoy eating their fruit. But please don’t eat from that one particular tree lest you die.” Simple, no?

Perhaps it was too simple for Adam and his wife. They wanted to be like God so they trusted the serpent’s words instead of God’s Word. Adam would continue to till the ground, but it was much more difficult than before. Not everything given to him would be good for him. Sin and death entered the world and made our wants and needs more important that what God wants us to need.

The prophet Isaiah writes, why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? We’re back to our original question: what do we need or want from life? God knows what we need. We need His forgiveness and life. We need to trust in His providential care. If He gives us eternal things, why would He not give us heavenly things?

Instead of demanding the kind of bread you want in the wilderness, repent and receive the daily bread God gives you. He knows what you need before you ask it. He teaches you exactly what to ask for and when to ask for it. Recall the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer: Give us this day our daily bread. This petition is in fourth place in the list of things Jesus asks us to pray. First comes letting His Name be holy. Then comes letting His kingdom come. Third is letting His will be done for us on earth as it is in heaven. Daily bread is fourth, with forgiveness, keeping us from temptation and delivering us from evil following.

The three petitions before daily bread put everything into perspective for a Christian. The one thing needful is hearing the Word of God and keeping it. God’s will for us is to hear and keep His Word. When these are done, daily bread comes even when we don’t ask for it. Taking the long view and looking at what our heavenly Father does for us in the spiritual realm fixes our eyes to receive daily bread with thanksgiving.

Saint Paul encourages the Roman Christians to take the long view too. Now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Freedom from sin is far greater than a double cheeseburger, large fries, and a chocolate shake. The same Jesus Who feeds four thousand men, not including women and children, in the wilderness from seven loaves of bread and a few fish also sheds His blood for your sin and rises from the dead triumphant over death and hell. The last chapters of the four Gospels do not focus on Jesus providing material goods for those who ask Him. They focus on the one thing you need: forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.

Our Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection are why the Bible was written. Saint John writes these [words] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. What Adam and Eve undid in the Garden of Eden is redone by Jesus Christ. Jesus is raised on the tree of life to give His life as a ransom for your sin. Creation is restored. Everything old is new again. The stain of sin is washed away. God’s gift for you is eternal life, wrought by His only-begotten Son when He rose from the dead. Instead of slavery to sin, you are in slavery to God. It is a freeing slavery because the yoke of Christ is easy and light. The yoke of Christ may not seem so easy and light when crosses burden your life. Take heart! One has borne the cross before you, making all crosses a blessing because from the worst things life gives comes the hope Jesus gives that we shall not die, but live, and declare His works.

There’s a hymn we’re going to sing in a couple of weeks that works not only for that Sunday but also for this Sunday. The hymn is called “One Thing’s Needful”. It’s an odd hymn because the tune changes meter in the middle of the hymn. Don’t let that throw you in a couple weeks! In preparation for singing this hymn, listen to this stanza.

One thing’s needful; Lord, this treasure
Teach me highly to regard.
All else, though it first give pleasure,
Is a yoke that presses hard!
Beneath it the heart is still fretting and striving,
No true, lasting happiness ever deriving.
This one is needful; all others are vain -
I count all but loss that I Christ may obtain.

Everything Jesus Christ is He gives to you, even forgiveness of sins and life. God grant it for His sake.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

George Stöckhardt’s Trinity 7 sermon from “Gnade um Gnade” (Unending Grace) is fantastic. Here are some paragraphs from the sermon.

“Man has to provide not just for his body but above all else for his immortal soul. And this concern is his highest, his most sacred mission in this life. For what good is it were man to have his fill of bread and gain the whole world and yet lose h is own soul? And the bread, the nourishment for the soul is God’s Word and preaching. yes, God’s Word, the Gospel of Christ, satisfies, strengthens, upholds and refreshes and renews the soul. Therefore, however man gets his daily bread, he should concern himself above all else with spiritual times. It reads: Come, buy and eat….come, buy…without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1 NKJV)! As man daily, regularly, in due course, enjoys earthly bread, thus should he before anything else become engrossed in God’s Word, should eat and drink, regularly, in due course, hear preaching Sunday after Sunday, daily read his Bible so that his soul will not become famished and waste away. As the father of the home daily lays before the members of his family earthly bread, so should he daily provide and renew them with the bread of the soul, with the bread of life, God’s Word. This is the first and the best to which the Lord draws attention.
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We may and should ask and thank God for earthly bread, but in the right way and order, so that we leave the fourth petition [of the Lord's Prayer] in its proper place, in fourth position and first beseech God for the kingdom of heaven, that through his grace we believe His Word and live a godly life here in time and there in eternity. We should acknowledge that God does put daily bread into our hand and mouth, that it is the same God who rules in the Kingdom of Grace and in the Kingdom of Creation and who here as well as there has reserved everything for his might and his goodness. And when God now gives daily bread also to the wicked who do not ask him for it, our attitude should still be that we would not receive a bit of bread were we not to call upon God for it.

Jesus taught his disciples to lift up eyes and hands to the heavenly Father before they began their day’s work and after the day’s work was done to give Him glory because everything had gone well. Through His example prayer especially at mealtime is consecrated and appointed by the Lord.

It appears to be a formality when Christians before and after meals stand at table for a few moments, fold their hands, and say a short prayer. And indeed it is a worthless ceremony if it does not come from the heart. But that very table-prayer is a definite characteristic of Jesus’ disciples. When one enters an unfamiliar home, he is from the able at once to determine whether Christians or Gentiles live in it. As a rule very spark of faith and religion has been extinguished in those who sit at meat and rise from table without saying grace. They know nothing of Jesus nor of the Father in heaven. Those who have any kind of a relationship with the Father and the Son pray and give thanks even for daily bread. And a living, zealous Christian realizes better and better every day that prayer is half the battle.
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As long as Christians walk upon earth, in their sinful, mortal body, they are to eat their bread in the sweat of their brow and bear the heat and misery of the day. Thus the first disciples, the fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, often worked day and night. And Paul, even when he became an apostle, still worked through many a night with his hands and earned his daily necessities and through this work presented himself to Christians as a type and example.

Were a christian actually, as the world says in it stupidity, to pray all day long and sit on his hands and let God do the providing, that would be foolishness, fanaticism, presumption, tempting God, something that convicts itself. But also when a Christian, as often happens, regards and speaks of his earthly work in a contemptible way, performs this work only out of need and compulsion and does not consider it worth the effort, exertion, self-sacrifice, he is in this particular instance judging and dealing in a very unchristian way and is treading a slippery, deceptive course.
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Many a Christian has had similar thoughts: Had I not chosen God’s Word as my guiding principle, instead of with a Christian congregation had I rather become associated with a lodge or some other club, I would be more successful upon earth, I would be able to take care of things better, then I wouldn’t have to shy away from any ways and means for obtaining food and money. But we are not to think like this. We hear in our text that the Lord Jesus did not let a single one of the thousands who followed and remained with him for three days, not a single woman or child die of thirst or hunger, but before the need had peaked, He gave of His help in time and saved them all from starving. And His power, goodness, and faithfulness are new every morning.

The miracle in our text, the miracles of deliverance, preservation, assistance which we already have experienced are an admonition for us. We should firmly believe that God the Father, Jesus our Redeemer, controls even the little things, also has our destiny in His Hand, that He who has given the greater, namely, eternal life, will also bless us with the little things and will keep body and soul together until our life-span has run its course.

Our God is a God of order. When people are taught to maintain order in matters earthly, to keep an account of receipts and expenditures, to be economical with money and time, that there’s a right time for everything, including daily prayer, that they are to take care of what is theirs, to deal carefully with all great and small gifts of God, not to squander what they have but to gather up and save what is left over, this all sounds like so much plain, blunt moral preaching. Such instruction appears to be out of place within Christianity. But our text teaches that what is laudable and virtuous before men is also laudable and virtuous before God, and that Christ has no pleasure in a dissolute, wild, disordered existence. Propriety, discipline, good breeding, good behavior are becoming a Christian also. And when one keeps all things in order, he will also have something left over for the poor.

A true Christian is a new person; he is a person whose heart, state of mind, intellect, and all powers the Holy Ghost has converted and transformed. This change shows itself chiefly in a new attitude toward sin. First of all, he wants to know what God’s Word calls sin. He hates and fears every sin, even the least of sins, be it a sin in deed or in words or in bearing or in thoughts and wishes. Whenever he awakens in the morning, his greatest concern is to guard himself against every sin in the course of the day lying head of him. Though the sin may appear ever so small and excusable, whenever he is tempted in the course of the day, he thinks with Joseph: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God” (Gen. 39:9)?

One important sign of true Christians is that not only do they not want to become rich or merely obtain something through sin. They would rather suffer the greatest loss than burden their conscience with something sinful. If, for example, they were given counterfeit money, or something faulty was fraudulantly sold them, they do not seek to make their loss good by returning it as quickly as possible; they prefer to suffer the loss rather than commit sin. If in a certain case merely a doubt exists as to whether they can make a profit without sinning, they are not satisfied with that probability. Either they must be absolutely certain, or if not, they chose to forget about the profit without conferring with flesh and blood. As their advisers they do not seek those who have a free and easy conscience; they consult those who are earnest in such matters and sharpen conscience — not to mention that they should secretly hate them because of their pitiless earnestness (as often happens with false Christians).

In the matter of earthly gain true Christians proceed on the principle: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul” (Matt. 16:26)? If by shrewd speculation they could gain the whole world, but burden their conscience just a bit, or if by a sin easily justified before men, they could avoid a great loss, they view the matter as a trap which had been laid for them by the world, flesh, and Satan; they flee from it as from the gaping jaws of hell.

That is why the world considers Christians fools and madmen. But what of it? In eternity we will see who was the wisest. I fear many a hypocrite will then wish that he could hide his gain to which sin clings like an indelible stain from God’s eyes. Sinful gain will hang like a heavy stone around his neck. It will draw him down forever in to the abyss of hell, the portion of all hypocrites. On the other hand, he who for God’s sake refused even doubtful gain and joyfully suffered loss for conscience sake will in eternity see it turned into eternal riches.

However, my friends, not only would a true Christian decline the most tempting gain, not only would he suffer the severest loss rather than sin, but he would also do that rather than be deprived of some spiritual blessing.
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If we want to see quite clearly how wise Christians are because they sacrifice the temporal for the spiritual, we must cast a glance into eternity. Whoever here denies himself spiritual things rather than temporal will see the results of his sparse sowing in the harvest of that world in all eternity. On the other hand, whoever gladly sacrifices temporal for spiritual things will find each self-denial, even the least, which he here exercised, as capital which God deposited for him, for which God pays him eternal interest in heaven. Wherein this interest will consist no eye has yet seen, neither ear heard, nor is entered into the heart of man. But it will be greater than can be measured, more than can be paid, more precious than can be compared with anything earthly.

All of you therefore who have preferred heavenly for earthly things and for that reason have journeyed through this world like pilgrims, be on your guard that your heart is not snared by earthly things. Hold on! The journey is soon over and then for poverty for Christ’s sake will follow riches, for renunciation enjoyment, for humility and contempt honor and majesty.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

The Law of God is so good and so wise that you cannot keep it as God wants you to keep it. You can try to keep the Law, but you will stumble. Keeping the Law means to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, as well as loving your neighbor as yourself. The love God expects in His commandments is a love of thought, word, and deed, not merely in word or in deed. Going through the motions of keeping His Law won’t save you. The inclination of your heart is what counts.

The inclination of your heart is wretched due to sin. Your righteousness does not exceed God’s righteousness. You’re in good company. The righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees also did not exceed God’s righteousness. You’re ahead of the game when you believe that your righteousness does not pass God’s muster. The scribes and Pharisees did not believe it. They believed the performance of the Law passed as righteousness before God and men. God didn’t want their performance. God wanted their hearts in it. God wants your heart in it too. However, your heart is blackened with sin and death. Your Father in heaven wants no part of you giving your filthy heart to Him.

You prayed in the Collect for Trinity 6: Graft in us the love of Your Name. Jesus Christ is the only Name that brings the love of the heavenly Father. If you were to preach the Fifth Commandment as Jesus does in Matthew chapter five, You shall not murder, yet be arrested and tried for a crime you did not commit, you would want vengeance. You would be ready to slaughter those who spat upon you, blasphemed you, and mocked you as the so-called Son of God. You do this when you are angry with your brother without a cause. Recall Blessed Martin Luther’s explanation of the Fifth Commandment: We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need. You do this when you despise God’s Name by not hearing preaching and His Word, by using His Name loosely, and by participating in witchcraft and soothsaying.

You also prayed: Increase in us true religion. The dog days of summer are here. True religion is decreased in the summer so other activities may be increased. God bless you when you attend Divine Service while out of town. However, when you let a busy schedule push aside both public and private prayer, true religion is decreased. Preaching and His Word are not a sometime thing, especially in warm weather months.

You prayed: Nourish in us all goodness. What sort of goodness is it when you say, Raca! or You fool! God expects His children to live in peace. There is no peace for rebellious words and actions, especially when those rebellious words go against God. Don’t believe for a moment that you’re off the hook when you say foolish words to your neighbor. When you speak coarsely to your neighbor, you also speak coarsely to God.

The final petition in the Collect is of Your great mercy keep us in the same. “The same” is the true religion prayed for earlier in the Collect. You are not in the true religion of the Triune God when your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes, Pharisees, your neighbor, or Almighty God. Your righteousness before God is as filthy rags. Your heart before God is a rusty tin can that is good for nothing.

God’s Son is in the trash collection business. Jesus Christ comes along the piles of trash and sees your rusty tin can of a heart, uses his collection stick to pick you up, and puts you in His bag. A rusty tin can cannot climb into a bag. Someone must pick it up. Jesus Christ is that someone.

Saint Paul writes to the Roman Christians: Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certain we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should not longer be slaves of sin.

Jesus Christ takes your rusty tin can of a heart, washes it clean in baptismal water, and grafts it into the love of His Name. Being grafted into the vine of righteousness, He increase in you true religion through the Means of Grace. Many so-called “Christians” are Christians in name only. They believe with God’s Word that faith in Christ alone saves. They take those words in a minimalistic meaning. “All I have to do is believe in Jesus.” That’s true. But can a grafted vine live when it wants to be away from the root? A grafted vine remains connected when it receives nourishment. So it is with you. The Holy Spirit increases true religion in you when He calls you by the Gospel, enlightens you with His gifts, sanctifies and keeps you in the one true faith. An increase in true religion is also tied with nourishment in all goodness. Holy Preaching, Holy Absolution, and Holy Communion build on the strong foundation laid in your Holy Baptism. These Holy Things for holy ones deliver forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. They are your lifelines to the resurrected Christ.

God’s great mercy keeps you steadfast in the true faith to life everlasting. Paul writes in the Epistle: reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. You are alive in Christ Jesus when you show forth the mercy of Jesus Christ where God has put you. Do you change diapers? You show Christ’s mercy. Do you work diligently? You show Christ’s mercy. Do you care for one another? You show Christ’s mercy. Where the mercy of Jesus is, there is the love of God’s Name, the increase of true religion, and the nourishment in all goodness.

All these good things flow from the Son of God, Who gave His life for you that you might trust in His blood and righteousness. They are your beauty and your glorious dress. Wrapped in Him, all things are now possible, even eternal life. When you fall short of God’s mark of righteousness, there is forgiveness and life in Christ. Believe it for His sake.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

Third Sunday after Trinity
June 20, 2010 A+D
Rev. Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes
Zion Lutheran Church, Carpenter, Ill.
Trinity Lutheran Church, Worden, Ill.

+Jesu juva!+

Luke 15:1–10
Seeking and Saving the Lost

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Dearly Beloved:

Getting presents on your birthday is usually great, but sometimes you get presents you didn’t really want in the first place. Do you know what’s even better? When you find some of your best things after they’ve been missing for a while. I love books, and while I was in seminary, I had to pack up nearly all of my books and put them in storage for a year. Finally the day arrived. It was time to get the books back out of storage and open up the boxes. It was like my birthday, but better, since they were all books that I knew and loved, but hadn’t seen in a year. In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about the great joy of finding lost sinners. In today’s sermon there are three words you should remember. They are: “offense,” “lost,” and “repentance.”

The first word to remember is “offense.” The Pharisees are always finding something to criticize in our Lord Jesus. The Gospel says, “the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.” The Pharisees were some of the religious leaders. Among the Jewish leaders, they were actually the best. They believed the entire Bible (Old Testament, that is). They weren’t like the unbelieving Saducees, who didn’t believe in angels, or even in the resurrection of the dead. So these Pharisees were relatively good guys. They were Bible-believing Jews. They were the conservatives, not the liberals. But, they were taking offense at what Jesus was doing. How dare Jesus receive these tax collectors and sinners! In their minds, by associating with them, Jesus was condoning their sin. He was talking to them, even eating with them. In the minds of these Pharisees, that could only mean that Jesus was approving of their sins.

Now what can we learn from this? The Pharisees grumble and take offense at the holy works of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ. What can we learn? This is where we can learn about the doctrine of “offense.” These Pharisees were offended by Jesus. They were offended by what Jesus was doing—receiving sinners and eating with them. What does “offense” mean? What does it mean to be offended? Nowadays, it means nothing other than, “I don’t like what you’re doing.” It’s all personal, it’s all subjective, it’s all opinion. But that is totally different than what the Bible is talking about. That is a Pharisaical way of being offended. It means nothing more than “I don’t like what you’re doing.” But the Bible has a different way of speaking. When our Lord Jesus speaks of “giving offense,” he means “causing someone to sin by our words or example.” For example, in another part of the Gospel (Matt. 18:6) Jesus says, “whoever offends one of these little ones who believe in Me, it would be better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” That doesn’t mean, “whoever causes a little child to be upset and not to like what you’re doing”! We offend our children in that way all the time, and we have to. We have to tell them “no,” sometimes. It’s for their own good, even if they’re offended and they don’t like it. What Jesus means is, “Whoever causes a little one to sin.” This is why Christian preachers like myself and your pastor preach the Law, even if people don’t like it. We are not the ones causing offense, because we are not leading you into sin. Just the opposite. When we tell you to stop sinning and to repent, God is leading you out of sin. So learn the difference between giving offense and taking offense. Giving offense is when someone causes others to sin by his words or example, even if the whole world approves of it and likes it. But taking offense is when someone doesn’t like what I say or do, even if what I’m preaching is the pure Word of God. The Pharisees are taking offense, but Jesus is not giving any offense.

So many times, people take offense at the sermon when the preacher has done nothing but to preach God’s Word. And on the other hand, so many times preachers are afraid to preach against certain sins for fear that people will leave the congregation. Luther once said, “If you want to know which dog has been struck, it is the one who cries out. Therefore, you are accusing yourself, if you grumble, and are defaming yourself. As Cicero says, when vices are rebuked in general terms, whoever becomes angry at it shows himself to be guilty. Whoever cannot bear it when unbelief is rebuked along with the fruits of unbelief, he is most certainly the dog who has been struck.” It reminds me of a time years ago when I was talking with a Roman Catholic woman. I was really trying to be respectful and kind as I spoke. I mentioned that there is not a single place in the entire Bible that says the pope is infallible. My oh my! did she take offense, even though what I said was the Gospel truth. I was saying it out of concern and care for her, but she took offense. So friends, let us all learn from this not to be like those Pharisees. Let us not grumble against Jesus and His Word. He knows what He’s doing. He knows what is best for our eternal health and happiness. He corrects all of us—pastors and people—by means of His holy Law. Let us humbly receive His Word, take it to heart, and say, “Amen, Lord. What you say is true and right, even if the whole world takes offense at it.” Remember that word: “offense.”

The second word is “lost.” It’s obvious that the Pharisees did not understand why Jesus was receiving sinners and eating with them. They may have thought that He was accepting their sins, but in reality Jesus was seeking their salvation. They were lost, and He was seeking them. So Jesus told them two parables, one about a lost sheep and another about a lost coin. He said: “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 later Jesus says: “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?” Unrepentant sinners are lost. That word for “lost” in the Greek New Testament doesn’t only mean, “I’m confused, I lost my map, and I can’t find my way back home.” It also means “destroyed, or ruined.” Think about this lost sheep. A lost sheep in the wilderness will soon be eaten by a wolf or a coyote. Then he’ll be destroyed and ruined. In the same way, a lost silver coin in the basement will eventually tarnish, decay, and be ruined. When the Bible says “lost,” it really means “lost and about to be destroyed.” So the opposite of “lost” is not just “found,” but also “saved.” That’s why Jesus said, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

Dearly beloved friends, you have come to church today and are hearing the words of Jesus, your shepherd, the one who died for you, the one who seeks and saves you. You are in the right place. This is your home. This is where Jesus brings you after He finds you, so that He can heal and save you. But be careful! Take this seriously! Don’t stay away from the preaching and sacraments of Jesus. Come regularly, every Sunday, to hear the voice of your shepherd. And show some concern for your friends and family members. Do you know some people who are spiritually lost, and are about to be destroyed? Dearly beloved friends, find some way to talk with them about the most important things in life, that is, talk with them about belonging to God, what sin is, hearing God’s Word, being found by Him. The only way they will be found is if they hear the Word of God. And if they won’t come here to the Church to hear it, then you will have to bring it to them. No one else will do it. Remember this word: “lost.”

The final word is “repentance.” This text says a lot about repentance. Jesus says, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” And later He says, “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Unrepentant sinners are the lost. Jesus is the one seeking them, and He seeks them by calling out to them with His Word. And when sinners repent of their sins and believe in Christ, they have been found. That’s what this entire Gospel reading is about. Jesus tells these stories about finding a lost sheep and finding a lost coin, and He ends them by talking about “one sinner who repents.” That is to say (and this is very important), Jesus only finds and saves repentant sinners. Repentance is necessary.

Now what does “repentance” mean? Does it mean, “Saying you’re sorry” after you have offended someone or done him wrong? Yes. Does it mean really being sorry in your heart, so that you sincerely intend to stop doing him wrong? Yes. But in the Bible, there’s more to it than just being sorry. The Augsburg Confession, our most important statement of faith after the creeds, says it like this (AC, Latin, XII 3–6): “Now, repentance properly consists of these two parts: One part is contrition, or terrors that have stricken the conscience by means of recognized sin. The other part is faith, which is conceived of the Gospel, or the Absolution; and believes that for Christ’s sake, sins are forgiven; and comforts the conscience; and frees it from terrors. Then good works are bound to follow, which are the fruits of repentance.” When we say “repentance,” in modern English, we only think about the first part—being truly sorry for our sins. Our modern English word “repentance” doesn’t include faith, but it really should. Repentance also means that God speaks to you softly, consoles you when your conscience is accusing you, puts peace in the heart. He does this because of His Son, Jesus Christ, who died for you on the cross to create peace for you with God. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, repentance for you is not just being sorry, it is also receiving God’s mercy through faith. This, too, is part of repentance.

Maybe that’s why we need to think of sin a little differently. Think of it like this. Sin is like spitting at your dad and running away from home. Then, repentance is a total change of mind—changing from disrespect to dismay at what you’ve done, but also coming home and letting dad embrace you, love you, rejoice over you, care for you. We often think of the first part (contrition, terrors), but we forget the second part (faith, consolation, restoration). That’s why we need these parables that Jesus tells, to give us the second part of what repentance is: faith in Christ, who died for your sins.

Dearly beloved, stop running away from God. Stop hiding from Jesus. Hear what I’m preaching to you. Don’t let this go in one ear and out the other. Come to Jesus by listening to His Word and applying it. Jesus is a good shepherd who seeks you, and He is like a woman seeking her lost coin. God is the sort of Father who loves it when His wayward, prodigal children change their minds and come back to Him. He is actively calling you, inviting you back. And so here in the church we celebrate the holy Sacrament of the Altar and rejoice with the angels over one sinner who repents. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.