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INJ
St Luke 15:1-10
'Joy in Heaven'
Divine Service
The Third Sunday after Trinity Sunday | June 8, 2008
Dear Saints,
Here in Luke 15 Our Lord Jesus gives us three parables about repentance, and we have heard the first two, the parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and then there is the parable called the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and all three of these parables are teaching us about repentance.
The one sheep out of the ninety-nine is the one who repented, and the one coin is the repenting coin, as Jesus teaches us, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” [Luke 14:10]
First, we consider what it means to repent. What did the sheep do right, or the coin? The answer is that they didn't do anything. The sheep just got lost, and the coin laid there and collect dust. But both were found. So this is repentance: to be found by Jesus. To be carried on His shoulders. To go from being lost to being safe, from darkness to light, from death to life and from sin to forgiveness. Repentance is being found by Jesus and carried into His kingdom.
We learn in the catechism that repentance embraces two parts: contrition and faith. First, comes contrition, sorrow over sin, when we hear the law and know that we've broken it and deserved God's punishment. Then comes faith, when we hear that Jesus carried our sin on His back to the cross and died, so that we could live. And all of this, says Jesus, is His work. Repentance is not something that we do, it is something that happens to us, something that God does.
He comes with the law and demolishes us, and He comes with the Gospel and raises us to new life, finds, rescues and delivers us. We always want to take credit for our repentance, but there is no credit to be had, no boasting to be heard, no more than the lamb could take credit for being found and rescued, no more than that coin can take credit for lamp-lit sweeping on the woman.
But there is more for us here, and I'd like to focus on this stunning insight that Jesus gives us, that the angels are rejoicing over repentant sinners. Twice we had it in our Gospel reading:
15:7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
15:10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
Now this is stunning. If we take a minute to wonder about the angels, and what makes them happy, we have two answers in the Scriptures: first, the glorious presence of the blessed Holy Trinity in heaven (over which we see the angels rejoicing in the heavenly visions of the prophets), and second: our repentance.
Now here we're getting down to the nitty-gritty, because we, dear saints, are not like the angels. We do not rejoice over repentance. We don't even like repentance, especially our own. If we had the choice of cleaning out the litter box or repenting of our sin, we choose the litter-box. If we had the choice of marching up the mountains or repenting, we strap on our boots. If it was admitting our sin or giving up one of our lungs, you see the point. In fact, we find repentance so distasteful, and especially here we're talking about acknowledging our sins, that we go to great lengths to hide our sin, to protect ourselves from any accusations.
You see this when people simply cannot admit that they were wrong or they made a mistake, like the man taking his wife to the movies and went the wrong way, and when they both realize that their lost he says, “They must have moved the theater.” You know this difficulty, don't you? When our conscience is shouting that we've profaned the name of God, and the guilt mounts, and we say, “How can I make sure no one finds out about this?”
And this is how it is when we are in conflict with one another, that we dig in our heals and defend ourselves, and stand up for our rights, and we accuse the people coming against us of all sorts of stuff, anything, really, to make sure that we don't have to admit that we have sinned.
There are a lot of wild animals that go crazy to protect their children. We go crazy to protect the illusion of our own righteousness. It's part of our sinful flesh, our so-called survival mechanism, that we have a silly understanding of our own goodness, and we work so hard to protect it. We don't like being wrong, and we hate admitting it. We hate what heaven loves. We think that to repent is to lose.
But the opposite is true. Sin brings death, but when we die to sin the Lord raises us to newness of life. Confessing our sin is not something that we are to be afraid of. I remember learning the catechism and all about confession and absolution, and the pastor was talking about confessing sin, admitting it, being out with it, and how we find it difficult, and he said, this will always stick with me, “Do you think that I'm surprised to find out that you're a sinner.” There's no surprise there.
The Scriptures tell us this: that we're sinners. The surprise, and the wonder, and the joy, is not in our sin but in the Lord's taking our sin, carrying it, dying for it and forgiving it, all of it. That is why there is joy with the angels over our repentance, and even more, there is joy with our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not just that angels who are rejoicing in the text, but the shepherd who found his sheep and the widow who found her coin. And that's how it is with us, dear saints. You, your repentance and faith, your baptism, your being found by Jesus, these make the heaven rejoice, and the angels sing, and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit smile.
So rejoice, wandering sheep, slippery coin, your Jesus has gotten a hold of you, brought you into His kingdom, and thrown a party. He rejoices over you and delights in you, not because of all the good stuff you've managed to do, but because you are forgiven, and you are His. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO
For further reading regarding the joys of heaven: Revelation 20-22
