The Third Sunday after Trinity

If you were to put our Old Testament epistle and gospel readings together, you could not help but see the theme of repentance and humility.

! Our gospel text of Luke chapter 15 is a parable about a lost sheep and a lost coin. In the parable of the lost sheep, we heard how the shepherd leaves the 99 to rescue the one sheep who had gone astray.

When he finds that sheep, he hoists the lost creature upon his shoulders and he carries it home. We then read the good shepherd say, Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.

I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance.

Likewise, a woman who had 10 silver coins loses one. She then diligently sweeps the house until she finds it, and she rejoices over recovering that one lost silver coin.

We hear the following words, Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I lost. Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

So what are both of these stories communicating to us? Well, there is a particular meaning, and then there's a more general application from the stories of the lost sheep and the lost coin.

The particular meaning has to do with our Lord rescuing and bringing home the outcasts of Israel and the Gentiles. Now we heard this promise of this ingathering of Gentiles and the forgotten people of Israel in our Old Testament reading from Jeremiah chapter 31.

In Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 8 we read, Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the ends of the earth.

Among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and the one who labors with child together, and a great throng shall return there.

The promise is that our Lord would rescue those outside of the covenant, meaning the Gentiles, along with the dispersed and trodden people of Israel.

Our Lord was bringing together a remnant, that is one people who would be gathered from all nations, that would then make up the church.

Our Lord seeks out the lost, he finds them, and he brings them home, like the lost sheep and the lost coin of our gospel reading this morning.

But the religious establishment was not happy with our Lord's work of gathering in his remnant. As we heard at the very outset of our gospel reading, here in Luke chapter 15 verses 1 and 2, Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Jesus to hear him, but the Pharisees and the scribes complained, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.

God is bringing home these wayward people as they respond to his call to follow him and to repent, to turn away from their false gods and their wickedness.

And to follow him, their shepherd. So that is the particular meaning of this parable. Our Lord seeking out the Gentiles and those forgotten in Israel, the defective, the unclean, who would be brought into communion with him and grafted into his body, the church.

And as these defective and unclean people turn away from their sin, and now they embrace their shepherd, Jesus Christ, there is great rejoicing by the angels and the whole company of heaven.

But there is a general application that we need to adhere to this morning. The general understanding embraces the call for all of us to repent and to live humble lives before our God and humble lives towards others.

We are called to humble ourselves before our God with the intent of turning away from our selfish passions and our own pride and turning to Jesus Christ.

You see, we were that lost sheep and we were that lost coin. We all like sheep have gone astray and each of us has turned to our own way.

But Jesus, our good shepherd, hoisted our sins upon his shoulders and he nailed them to a cross. He did this to bring us home to our father where the angels now rejoice and we are to seek to grow in Christ by looking to him in humility rather than comparing ourselves to others in pride.

There is no room for boasting upon ourselves. There is no room for some kind of spiritual entitlement.

There should be no bragging on our own spirituality. There should be no looking down upon others or elevating ourselves as the spiritual superior to our neighbors.

That is wicked. And this is the general application of this parable. We all come to God the same way. Broken.

We all come to God the same way. Stained with sin and in need of being rescued. And humility is now to be the virtue of our lives which must be cultivated and practiced daily.

We are not to play the role of judge and executioner towards others. We are not God. We need to repent and live humble lives and live in the gratitude and joy of our Savior who has brought us back home to our Heavenly Father being conformed to Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit through our Lord's body, His church where we receive His gifts of grace in the sacraments.

The early church father, one of my favorite church fathers, St. John Chrysostom said this so well as he preached the following words.

This is taken from a sermon. He says, Enter into church where your sins are washed away. For here is a hospital, not a court of law.

Do not be ashamed again to enter the church. Yes, be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. Did you commit sin?

Enter the church. Repent of your sin. For here is the physician, not the judge. Here, one is not to be investigated.

One receives the remission of sins. Friends, the Lord calls us to a life of repentance. And that's not just a one-time thing.

That is daily. We are called to repent, repent, which means constantly turning away from our selfish and wicked ways in order to follow our Savior.

We are to live humble lives, not focusing upon the wrongs of others, but actively repenting and humbling ourselves before our God.

As we are reminded in our epistle reading from 1 Peter chapter 5 this morning, be clothed with humility.

For God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, of the Holy Ghost.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.