1 <\/sup><\/em>Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2<\/sup> And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, „This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.“ 3<\/sup> So he told them this parable: 4<\/sup> „Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5<\/sup> When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6<\/sup> And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‚Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.‘ 7<\/sup> 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. 8<\/sup> „Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9<\/sup> When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‚Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.‘<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a010<\/sup> Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.“<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0(Luke 15:1-10 NRSV)<\/p>\n Brothers and Sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n 10<\/sup> Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.“ Luke 15:10<\/p>\n What is repentance?\u00a0 A quick glance into the Oxford dictionary defines it as \u201csincere regret or remorse\u201d.\u00a0 The word used in the New Testament is the Greek word \u201cMetanoia\u201d and its derivatives, which means \u201cto change the mind.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, think in the opposite way in which you currently are.\u00a0 Add in the faith aspect and you are think differently in a sincere way and not do it again.\u00a0 But this little thing called sin gets in the way.\u00a0 Therefore on a weekly basis we begin our liturgy with the Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness, a time for us to repent of our sins and to receive God\u2019s forgiveness for the wrongs that we have done.\u00a0 It would be great if that was enough, but as sinners we know that while God freely gives, we have to work at changing our minds constantly.\u00a0 Sin is a part of our lives.\u00a0 Overcoming sin is hard, and we need help because we simply fail at it.\u00a0 We fail at it because we know we are sinners, and we know that we cannot overcome our sin by ourselves.\u00a0 Our repentance then is reliant upon our faith in God above, and that is what enables us to come before Him time and time again to receive his forgiveness.\u00a0 This, according to Luke\u2019s account of Jesus\u2019 parable, brings great joy in heaven.<\/p>\n As we look at our Gospel lesson for today, we find Jesus surrounded by two different groups of people.\u00a0 The first is the tax collectors and the sinners who have come near to hear Jesus.\u00a0 They are treated as outsiders in their community.\u00a0 Tax Collectors work for Rome, and are seen as cheats and thieves who collect more than they should so they can enrich themselves.\u00a0 Sinners are those who society has labeled as outcasts.\u00a0 They may have a physical or mental ailment, been labeled as unclean, they may be uneducated, or simply just not liked.\u00a0 Often they are presented in the Bible as looking for something such as hope or help regarding an illness.\u00a0 It is no wonder they have gathered to hear Jesus. \u00a0The second group gathered is the religious leaders.\u00a0 The Pharisees and the Scribes are the educated ones.\u00a0 They are a political and social class who see themselves above others.\u00a0 They have a self-perceived power and they like to make others aware of it. \u00a0They are above the sinners and the tax collectors, and they make no bones about letting folks know it.\u00a0 They also are against Jesus, and look for every opportunity they can to do harm to this man who regularly puts them in their place.<\/p>\n As the Pharisees and the Scribes grumble about Jesus\u2019 audience, Jesus tells them the first two of three parables on the \u201clost\u201d.\u00a0 We don\u2019t get a chance to hear the third parable today, but it is a familiar one that it is called the \u201cParable of the Prodigal Son.\u201d\u00a0 Often with these parables it can be said that the focus of repentance is on what is \u201clost\u201d, whether that is the sheep, the coin, or even the prodigal son.\u00a0 But as we look at this text, are the sheep and the lost the only ones that need to repent?\u00a0 We could easily say these parables are directed at the religious elite.\u00a0 We could also say they are directed at the sinners and tax collectors.\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps we should say all of the above\u2026the things that are lost, the sinners, the tax collectors, and the religious elite?\u00a0 As Christians, we identify with all of them.\u00a0 Not a single one of us here has had a life where at some point we haven\u2019t been lost.\u00a0 Not a single one of us here has had a time in our life where we have not needed the love and grace of God.\u00a0 Not a single one of us here is better, above, or any different than our neighbors.\u00a0 We are all the same in the eyes of God, and therefore we are all in need of God\u2019s forgiveness.<\/p>\n This text talks of the joy in heaven when a sinner repents.\u00a0 But the unspoken part is the joy that a sinner receives knowing that our Lord welcomes them and eats with them.\u00a0 Forget those that think they are better than everyone.\u00a0 That thought is only temporary because this life is only temporary.\u00a0 But an intimate, personal relationship with our Lord is forever.\u00a0 It transcends beyond this world into the Kingdom of God, and that is forever.\u00a0 Today, we gather as the sinners, the tax collectors, and the lost.\u00a0 And we give thanks that God continues to offer his forgiveness to those who repent.\u00a0 Let us add our joy with the joy of the angels in heaven, knowing that God welcomes us into his presence, rejoicing that what was lost has been found. In the name of the Father, and the +Son, and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n The Rev. Dr. Judson F. Merrell, STS<\/p>\n judsonmerrell@bellsouth.net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pentecost 14C | September \u00a011, 2022 | A Sermon on Luke 15:1-10 | by Judson F. Merrell | 1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, „This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.“ 3 So he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,157,853,108,110,235,415,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-13077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lukas","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-current","category-engl","category-judson-f-merrell","category-kapitel-15-chapter-15-lukas","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13079,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13077\/revisions\/13079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13077"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=13077"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=13077"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=13077"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=13077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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