LESSON: LUKE 19:1-10

The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1:15

If you feel your sins biting you, and your heart is wavering and beginning to tremble, take your place on the side where the tax collectors are standing, for they are the people for whom the Gospel is intended.

Do this quite joyfully and say, “Dear God, according to your own words, there is greater joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. All the angels and the righteous are interceding for this sinner and covering his sin. Now, dear God, here I am, and I feel my sins. My case is already decided. All I now need is a shepherd to seek me out; I will entrust myself feely to your Gospel.”

So, you come to God, and you are already the sheep that God has taken on His shoulders; you have already found your shepherd. You are the coin already lying in the hand; you are the one over whom all the angels of heaven are rejoicing.

Whether you feel all this right away or not must not disturb you in any way. Sin falls away gradually, and the bite in your conscience will impel you to keep on seeking God. You must fight with your faith against your feeling and say, “Dear God, I know what you have said; to this Word I will cling. I am the sheep and the coin; you are the shepherd and the woman.”

SL 11:1241 (21-22)

PRAYER: I thank and praise You, heavenly Father, for Your grace and mercy in seeking me out and finding me with Your Gospel of salvation. Preserve and keep me in Your mercy and grace, in and through Jesus Christ the Savior. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:57-66.

LESSON: 2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-7

“There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10

When sinners come to Christ in response to the invitation of the Gospel, He does not reproach them with their sins. He remains silent and covers their sins. He could put us to shame and trample us underfoot, as the Pharisees do, but He does not do that. At the last judgement, He will certainly come forth, and all that has remained hidden will be revealed.

We must follow the example of Christ. A maiden must place her garland of chastity upon a whore, a pious wife must give her veil to an adulteress, and we must be prepared to use any of our garments to cover sin. Every man will have his sheep and every woman her coin. All our gifts must be placed at each other’s disposal.

In God’s judgement, there is no greater sin on this earth than that committed by pious men, women, and maidens when they despise those who are held fast in their sins. At the same time, they are under the delusion that their natural endowment can help them out. They blow themselves up with their own perfections and self-importance and despise their neighbor.

Hence, this Gospel provides powerful consolation to poor sinners because it is so friendly to sinners, and at the same time it must be a source of some fear to the Pharisees.

SL 11:1240 (17-19)

PRAYER: Have mercy on us at all times, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy, blot out all our sins in accordance with Your promises, in and through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:57-66.

LESSON: MATTHEW 18:10-14

He told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ … Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.’” Luke 15:3-6, 8-9

Christ is the shepherd, and He is also the woman. It is Christ who has lit the lamp, that is, the Gospel, and it is Christ who walks about in the wilderness, that is, the world, and who sweeps the house seeking the lost sheep and the lost coin. He does this seeking with His Word so that, first of all, sin is proclaimed to us and, thereafter, grace and mercy.

When we are told here that the shepherd takes up the lost sheep on His shoulders, the reference is to the fact that our sin has been laid on Christ’s shoulders. This certainly must strengthen our confidence in Christ, and this must also follow from the way in which tax collectors and other sinners flocked to Him and were received by Him. Had they regarded him as nothing but a stubborn judge, they would never have come to Him. But these sinners recognized themselves as sinners in need of His grace. And when they heard tell of His attractive words, they came to Him.

Learn from this that we should seek out our neighbor to cover his shame with our honor and to hide his sin with our piety.

SL 11:1239 (15-16)

PRAYER: It is not Your will, O Lord, that we should ever delight in the sins of others and gloat over them, but that we should rather help them to repentance and provide joy in heaven. Fix this truth in our hearts in such a way that we always act according to it, for the sake of Jesus our Savior. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:57-66.