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A Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 15:1-10
Many years ago, the national leader of a small denomination predicted that he would not die before the end of the world comes. But then he did die.
The following Sunday the people wondered what the local pastor would say. He announced: “God has changed his mind.”
He chose as his text our Old Testament text for today from Exodus 32. The people of Israel had turned to worship a golden calf and the Lord said: “I’m going to destroy them all and start over with you, Moses.”
Moses begs him not to do this, and the Lord not only changes his mind, he repents (Exodus 32:14).
In the following chapter, it says: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (Exodus 33:19).
In a similar way in Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
The New Testament has striking examples of God’s mysterious ways. Recall the blind man in John 9. Jesus restores his sight, the blind man believes, and Jesus says he came into the world that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.
In Luke 19:1-10 there is that little man, Zacchaeus, who climbed up in a tree to see Jesus. The point is not that he was short, but that he was a tax collector, a sinner. As it says in Luke 19:10, Jesus has come to save the lost.
Another well-known parable is about the people working in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). Some are hired in the beginning and they work all day. Others in the middle. And still others are hired toward the end of the day. The owner comes and they are all paid the same. Those who have worked all day complain, and the answer is: “Who are you to tell the Lord how he should do it?” The Lord does it his way.
That brings us to the three parables in Luke 15, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, whom we call the Prodigal Son. The three are one package. It begins in Luke 15 with the problem. The Scribes and Pharisees are standing around watching Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners. They are very upset. They say this man receives sinners and eats with them. What comes next are these three parables.
The question for us is: Who are the lost? The lost sheep, coin, and the lost son?
It’s obvious in the Exodus text. All of the people, except Moses, have bowed down to the golden calf. They are caught in idolatry. All sin is breaking the First Commandment, having another god instead of Yahweh.
What do the Scribes and Pharisees say? “We’re good people. We keep the law, all 613 laws.” But Luke 10:27 spells out what it means to keep the law: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.” We can’t and we don’t.
Which brings us back to the parables in Luke 15. What is a parable? It’s not an analogy or allegory. Remember what Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, wrote: “My love is like a red, red rose.” But it doesn’t mean she has green leaves.
What is a parable about? It has one point. That’s important to remember. We misuse parables when we get distracted by their details. For example, think of the parable of the shepherd who left the ninety-nine sheep to find the lost one. What was he thinking! That was very careless to leave the ninety-nine. Now they’re in danger just as much as the one sheep. But getting distracted by why the shepherd would do that obscures the point of the parable.
Consider the lost coin. The woman searches everywhere. When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors to rejoice because the lost has been found. If we get distracted by trying to figure out the value of the coin related to money in our day, the point of the parable is lost.
Once again, consider the Prodigal Son. He worked for somebody who raised pigs. The Prodigal even ate some of the food the pigs had. We go astray when we think: “Ah, this has a deep, dark meaning. We know the Jewish people abhorred pork; maybe this is a commentary on food laws?” No.
We misuse parables when we focus on the details in the parable rather than on the one point which is what the parable is about.
Parables have one point, and we’re to keep our eye on that one point.
All three of these parables are summed up by what is stated succinctly in Luke 15:24 and 15:32: “My son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. Let us rejoice.” That’s what all three parables are about, and we must not get lost in details.
Very simply: The one who is lost is found. The one who is dead, is alive again. That’s the message of the Gospel and the message of these three parables.
There’s nothing new in pointing out that God does things his way and not our way. The cross is a scandal, an offense, foolishness. Or to put it in terms of Psalm 103:10-12:
“He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”
In Luke 23 there is the account of the thief on the cross (vs 32-43). Right before he dies, he admits he is guilty and deserves to die. Jesus says to him: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” He is forgiven.
Think about that exchange between Jesus and the thief on the cross when you read what Luther writes in the Large Catechism about Baptism: “Thus we see what a great and excellent thing Baptism is, which snatches us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God’s own” (BC, Large Catechism, Tappert 446:83)—just as the thief on the cross was snatched from the jaws of the devil.
We have the wrong idea that there is something we can say or do to be good enough, to be worthy, even if it’s only reaching out to him.
No, like the coin and the lost sheep, he snatches us. Salvation is outside of us, in spite of us.
That’s why when we come to the Lord’s Table, he comes to us where we are, just as we are. He eats with sinners.
And when we sing “Just as I am, without one plea,” the whole thing is stated again. Amen