“Jesus’ Antagonists Highly Complimented Him”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Dear fellow repentant sinners, grace, mercy, and peace from God
the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord [Amen.]
“I, a sinner, come to Thee
With a penitent confession.
Savior, mercy show to me;
Grant for all my sins remission.
Let these words my soul relieve:
Jesus sinners doth receive.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
609:4)
Gospel
Reading...........................................................................................
St. Luke 15:1-2
1Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear [Jesus].
2And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives
sinners and eats with them.”
Prologue: I’ve told you about her before … Louise, who was an
80-something sprightly spinster lady in a previous congregation I pastored.
She wasn’t a person who minced words as I was abruptly reminded one Sunday
morning when I greeted her after the worship service. She stopped suddenly;
looked at me intently; and declared candidly (and loudly, I might add):
“Your sermons are the most boring things I’ve ever heard!”
Knowing her as I did, I suspected there was another shoe about to
drop. So I asked politely: “And why is that, Louise?” She answered without
missing a beat: “All you ever talk about is Jesus. Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!”
I smiled, shook her hand, and replied: “Thank you, Louise, for the best
compliment anyone could ever give a preacher.” You see, what she meant to
be criticism was in reality commendation.
Today’s Gospel Reading contains the familiar account of Jesus’
parable about the prodigal son. At least that’s what many people think it’s
about. However, there are many others (myself included) who think that it’s
really about the forgiving father. The truth is that’s about the younger
repentant son and the forgiving father … as well as the older self-righteous
jealous son. The irony of it all is that Jesus told this parable against
the self-exalting Pharisees and scribes who had grumbled against Him because
He associated with the scumbags of society and even joined with them for the
day’s main meal. You see, although His detractors thought they were
scornfully criticizing Him, in reality …
“Jesus’ Antagonists Highly Complimented Him.”
Here we are already at the halfway point in Lent, as we continue
our penitential preparation to joyfully celebrate on Easter Sunday the
resurrection of our Savior from the dead in victory over sin, Satan, and
death itself. As Pastor Marks emphasized last weekend, the theme of Lent
(even as it was in Advent) is repentance. “Repentance” is most simply
defined as “reverse direction.” That is, in military jargon, an “about
face.” In spiritual language, it means to turn away from disobeying God
and, at the same time, turn toward obeying God. That Spirit-inspired and
enabled action consists of recognizing sin as sin and the fact that we are
overcome with sinful disobedience; grieving our sinful disobedience;
admitting our sinful disobedience; receiving God’s forgiveness for our
sinful disobedience; and striving to change from sinful disobedience to
God-pleasing sanctified obedience. It’s that last item that we prayed for
in today’s Collect and would do well to pray for daily: “Grant that we may
heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness, give thanks for all Your
benefits, and serve You in willing obedience … .”
So it is that people who are alive in Christ by virtue of their
Baptismal renewal and regeneration realize and rejoice over the fact that …
I. Self-humiliating Repentance Prompts Joyful Celebration. (3, 11-24)
3So he told them this parable: . . .
11“There was a man who had two sons. 12And the younger of them said to his
father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And
he divided his property between them. 13Not many days later, the younger
son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he
squandered his property in reckless living. 14And when he had spent
everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in
need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that
country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16And he was longing to
be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
17“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired
servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18I
will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have
sinned against heaven and before you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called
your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20And he arose and
came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw
him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21And the
son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am
no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22But the father said to his
servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on
his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23And bring the fattened calf and kill it,
and let us eat and celebrate. 24For this my son was dead, and is alive
again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
With his premature demand for his inheritance from his still-alive
father the younger son thereby wished that his father was dead. After all,
a father’s possessions were distributed to the heirs only after he had died.
That was the way then and is still the way today.
However, the father did oblige. We don’t know if he did so
lovingly, willingly, regretfully, angrily, or whateverly. The younger son
then quickly wasted his inheritance on self-indulgent sinful living. Having
done so he descended to the ranks of a castaway homeless person, stooped to
slopping hogs (animals despised by the Jews), and even desired to eat the
slop that he was feeding the swine.
Having fallen to the lowest rung of his life-ladder, the
rebellious son remembered that his father treated his servants far better
than he himself was then living. So, he swallowed what little (if any)
pride he still had and decided to return home, admit his unworthiness to be
called his father’s son, and offer to live as dad’s servant. In short, he
recognized his sin, grieved his sin, resolved to admit his sin, and was
willing to forfeit his status as his father’s son. And so he did. Perhaps
Jesus had in mind King David’s example of such hundreds of year before as
stated in today’s Introit: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your
steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know
my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only,
have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be
justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” (Psalm 51:1-4 ESV)
But much to his astonished surprise, upon approaching home his
father, who had been watching … and waiting … and hoping … and probably even
praying for his sinfully disobedient son to return, ran to meet and greet
him and, after hearing his son’s confession of his sinful disobedience,
forgave him and restored him to his former status as his son. In fact, he
even treated him royally by adorning him with lavish clothes and jewelry,
and called for a celebration feast. You see, just like God does with us
disobedient sinners when we repent of our sins, the father restored his
disobedient but humbly repentant son to the rank of favored son. No doubt
that the father’s merciful and gracious response prompted in his younger son
what Isaiah described in today’s Old Testament Reading: “You will say in
that day: ‘I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with
me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my
salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my
strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.’ With joy you will
draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: ‘Give
thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the
peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the Lord, for
he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and
sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One
of Israel.’” (Isaiah 12:1-6 ESV)
By the way, that’s the secret to successful lasting relationships
between husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters,
classmates, congregational members, relatives, workmates, neighbors, and
anyone and everyone between whom there is enmity, animosity, and bitterness.
But it’s really not a secret. And, it’s not a seven-step or forty-day
process. It’s simply learning and using God’s inspired language in the
Bible. It’s knowing and practicing repentance that leads to reconciliation.
It’s confessing wrong words and actions to the person hurt by such by
saying: “I was wrong. I apologize.” It’s absolving the person who has
confessed wrong words and actions by saying: “I forgive you.” It’s what
Jesus’ brother James wrote about: “Therefore, confess your sins to one
another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (James 5:16 ESV)
Well, things seemed to be very wonderful except for the fact that,
overcome with self-righteous and judgmental jealousy, the older
faithfully-obedient son threw a major temper tantrum. In so doing, he
discovered that …
II. Self-exalting Unrepentance Forfeits Participation in Joyful
Celebration. (25-32)
25“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the
house, he heard music and dancing. 26And he called one of the servants and
asked what these things meant. 27And he said to him, ‘Your brother has
come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received
him back safe and sound.’ 28But he was angry and refused to go in. His
father came out and entreated him, 29but he answered his father, ‘Look,
these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet
you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.
30But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with
prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31And he said to him,
‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32It was
fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is
alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
The older son was a good and upright son who apparently modeled
qualities that were the exact opposite of his younger rebellious brother.
But when he discovered the festival celebration that his father was giving
for his son that had been lost but was now found, he “felt righteous
indignation over the festivities, which in his view were thoroughly
undeserved.” (Donald Guthrie in Jesus the Messiah: An Illustrated Life of
Christ. Copyright © 1972 by The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, MI.
Page 214.) Overcome by jealousy, anger, and perhaps even hatred, the older
son refused to share his father’s joy over his younger brother’s homecoming
by participating in the festival feast.
On the other hand, his father, overcome by compassion and sorrow,
begged him to come in and participate in the thanksgiving party …
thanksgiving for the fact that “this you brother was dead, and is alive; he
was lost, and is found.” (St Luke 15: 32 ESV) The older brother’s bitter
resentment toward the younger brother led him to refuse his father’s
invitation to share his joy and he thereby forfeited participation in the
celebration.
Okay, the magnificently meaningful major message that Jesus sought
to teach His audience then and us today was actually twofold. And they were
both in the context of the paradoxical reality that, although they meant
what they said to be criticism, …
“Jesus’ Antagonists Highly Complimented Him.”
Lesson number one: Repent! Last Sunday’s Gospel Reading made the
significance of that action very clear when Jesus said: “Unless you repent,
you will all likewise perish.” (St Luke 13:3 ESV) That is, confess your
sins and receive forgiveness. Let’s use this Lent season to review and
rehearse what we do with God at the beginning of every Divine Service and do
it with one another using the divine language of the Bible. When we realize
that we’ve sinned against someone let’s confess it, apologize for it, and
ask for forgiveness. And, when someone confesses, apologizes, and asks for
forgiveness, let’s tell them “I forgive you” even as we hear God telling us
through Pastor Marks’ and my mouths. By so doing, relationships are
reconciled and restored, and God is praised.
Lesson number two: Our heavenly Father loves all sinners with deep
compassion, both the repentant ones as well as the unrepentant ones, and
desires all to be present in the eternal heavenly festival celebration. He
assures us of His never-ending love for us in the reading and hearing of His
Holy Word, the daily remembrance of Holy Baptism, the reassurance of Holy
Absolution, and the proper partaking of Holy Communion. Sadly, and this
certainly deeply grieves His heart as Reverend Maas told us in his sermon
two weeks ago, those who refuse to repent forfeit that eternal glorious
heavenly celebration that Jesus gained for all with His holy life, innocent
suffering and death, and triumphant resurrection from the dead.
So let’s all of us always bear in mind and never forget that …
I. Self-humiliating Repentance Prompts Joyful Celebration. (3, 11-24)
but …
II. Self-exalting Unrepentance Forfeits Participation in Joyful
Celebration. (25-32)
As we do so, let’s strive to follow the advice contained in today’s
Gradual: “[O come, let us fix our eyes on] Jesus, the founder and perfecter
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
(Heb 12:2 ESV)
Let’s do so ever remembering the comforting and securing gospel
message that Saint Paul wrote in today’s Epistle Reading: “Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold,
the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to
himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God
was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against
them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Cor 5:17-19
ESV)
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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