Trinity 3
Dear friends in Christ. Holy Scripture it is abundantly clear—although God made Adam and Eve sinless, they fell into sin and now all their descendants—you, me, all people conceived and born in the normal way—are conceived and born sinful. David confesses for us all [Psalm 51.5]: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. The fact that we are sinners is not something that only the Christian knows. It lies at the foundation of every religion of the world: how do I, a sinner, get right with the holy God? All people instinctively know they are sinners. That’s the point St. Paul makes [Romans 2.13]: Even people to whom God has not revealed His holy Law, the Ten Commandments, when they, St. Paul says, do by nature what the Law says, they who do not have a the Law are a law to themselves. They show what the law wants them to do is written in their hearts. Their conscience tells the same truth, and their thoughts between themselves accuse them or defend them.
God created us moral beings—His holy law is written in our hearts, our conscience. Even though our conscience has been corrupted by sin, we still generally know when we do right and wrong. That means that we know sin when we see it; we know ourselves to be sinners and we know when others sin.
So the question naturally arises: What about these sinners around us? As we examine our text, we see that there’s a human view and God’s view on sinners.
1. Then all the tax collectors and the sinners were drawing near to Him to hear Him. Here known, open, obvious sinners were coming to Jesus—not to try to trick Him into saying something heretical or to get lucky and see Him do a miracle but to hear His holy word; they were attracted by His blessed word of salvation. Jesus knew these people to be sinners—just as the scribes and Pharisees did.
And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." One way people regard sinners is the way the Pharisees and scribes regarded the tax collectors and the sinners who were coming to Jesus to listen to Him. They just outright rejected them; they wanted nothing to do with the sinners.
The scribes and Pharisees were the religious leaders of the Jews who prided themselves on outwardly fulfilling all the outward rules and regulations of the OT law as well as the later additions made by the rabbis. They regarded themselves as the pinnacle of virtue; people looked up to them and respected/ honored them as the godliest ones. The scribes and Pharisees thought they more than enough earned/ merited God’s favor; they thought that by their exemplary life they would earn heaven—after all they were descendants of Abraham; they kept outwardly the law of Moses and on top of that, all the additional laws added to it. So when they saw the tax collectors and the sinners, they avoided, rejected them. Christians must especially be on guard here, lest we too fall into the sin of self-righteousness.
Then, there is the other human view of sin and the sinner which is the exact opposite of the scribes and Pharisees—and this is the view that is quite common today—“forced acceptance.” Instead of the “righteous” ones—like the scribes and Pharisees rejecting, looking down on, avoiding the sinner—here the sinner comes to the fore and demands that they together with his/ her sin be accepted.
Probably the most blatant example today is the sin of homosexuality. Instinctively knowing that it is wrong and sin, in order to make it seem not a sin and “normal”, there is all this clamor from the homosexual community and beyond for so-called homosexual marriage. The thought being—if it is “mainstream” how can it be wrong? By bringing this sin up over and over again in the media in a “positive” or “normal” light, all are being forced to accept this sin—and if it is accepted, how can it be wrong? The same could be said of any number of sins—couples living together outside of marriage, sex outside of marriage, having children out of wedlock, divorce for any flimsy excuse—anything where you hear people, in effect, saying “Don’t you judge me!” As Solomon writes [Proverbs 17.15]: "He who justifies the wicked…[is] an abomination to the Lord."
But when it comes down to it, the human view of sinners—either the self-righteous rejection of the sinner or the sinner demanding acceptance of him/herself and the corresponding sin—is avoidance of sin and its effects. It is an attempt to deny that yes I am a sinner, a slave to sin, and that my sin condemns me to hell. The self-righteous try to make him/herself holy by what they do—and exalt themselves over clear obvious sinners—and so think they are worthy of heaven. The ones demanding that they and their sin be accepted try to take the sin out of their sin and by this think they are no sinners and therefore worthy of heaven. The end result of the human view of sin and the sinner is the same—denying sin— and when sin is denied, so is the need for a Savior from sin.
2. Contrary to the thinking of the self-righteous, they, too, are sinners earning nothing before God but His wrath and condemnation. Contrary to the ones who want to force acceptance of their sin, no matter how much they make their sin “acceptable” to society—it is never acceptable to God whose holy will is sinned against; they still heap up on themselves God’s wrath and condemnation. Sin cannot be denied, nor can sin ever be accepted as right.
So, what is God’s view of the sinner? That, too, we see in our text: Then all the tax collectors and the sinners were drawing near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." Long story short, God welcomes sinners coming to Him in repentance, longing for salvation and rest for their souls. He does not cast the penitent sinner away but receives them in grace. What a comfort to the sinner recognizing/ confessing sin!
It’s no accident that Jesus in His first parable uses the example of the lost sheep. So [Jesus] spoke this parable to them, saying: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?" God sees all of us—all of us sinners—as the sheep which has gone off, wandered away; He sees us all needing repentance. By the Holy Spirit, the prophet Isaiah 53.6 writes: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way. The simple fact of the matter is, is that sin must be dealt with. It cannot be swept under the carpet or denied—like the human view of sin and the sinner. The lost sheep cannot change the situation claiming that it’s not as lost—did not wander as far away as other sheep; the lost sheep cannot say “You have to accept me where I am and say that I’m not lost.” No! And like the sheep that wandered off and got lost, the sinner must be dealt with.
How, then, does God view/ deal with the sinner? He recognizes the fact—the sinner is a sinner and because of that sin is worthy of His wrath and damnation. But He deals with us not as we deserve, but in love! In these parables of our Lord, He shows how vital each person, each soul, is to Him. 1 out of 100 sheep is seemingly insignificant; a regrettable but unavoidable loss— but not for the Lord! That’s the point of the parable—each person/ each sinner is valuable to the Lord! That’s His love for us sinners. "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses 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."
Here is our Lord’s tender desire and willingness to find us! He does not abandon us to our own ways of dealing with our sin—denial of it—instead, He seeks us out! The love of the holy Triune God for us sinners caused Him to act in order to deal with our sin. In love for us, the Father sent the Son to become man; in love for us sinners the Son came to this earth, became true man and by His holy life and His innocent suffering and death made the sinful world right with God.
Sin has to be dealt with! Left to ourselves we wouldn’t and couldn’t deal with it; left to ourselves our sin would always be accusing us and condemning us to hell. But Jesus dealt with our sin. He first offered for us that perfect holiness, true righteousness God demands of us in His Law if we hope to be saved. Then, when He had done that, He took all of our sins upon Himself—He was made sin—and went to the cross where He endured God’s wrath and condemnation for our sin! In Christ, our sin has been dealt with! God’s righteous anger over our sin has been appeased! We sinners are forgiven our sin and reconciled to God. That’s what Easter’s empty tomb shows: Our sin has been dealt with and in Christ is forgiven!
What does Christ now do? He [goes] after the one which is lost until he finds it. And in the second parable Jesus tells, drives home the point of His effort and diligence in seeking us out and saving us from our sin. "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?” Our gracious Lord Jesus is not deterred by a long arduous search. He uses every means possible to bring us the gifts and blessings of forgiveness and life He won for us on the cross.
Notice in the Lord’s parables—the lost item—the sheep and the coin are sought out! They don’t find themselves! The shepherd goes after the one which is lost until he finds it[.] And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Jesus does the seeking/ He does the finding. Evidently a lost sheep, when it realizes it is lost, does not budge but helplessly lies down. That’s why when the shepherd finds it, he has to pick it up and put it on his shoulders to bring it back to safety.
That’s what Jesus does with us sinners! He seeks us out—first by coming to us with the preaching of the holy Law of God: that we are sinners and that there is no way we can save ourselves; that left to ourselves there is nothing but death and damnation awaiting us. By the Law He stirs up unease in our conscience and hearts so that we recognize our lost damnable condition and desire a Savior from sin. That’s what He had done with the tax collectors and the sinners in our text. They recognized their sin and were longing for salvation; they were looking for rest for their souls—and they heard Jesus speak the words of eternal life. Jesus had found them; He drew them; He brought them to repentance and faith in Him as Savior—just like He did us, dear Christian. As Jesus then did with the tax collectors and the sinners in our text, giving them the gifts and blessings He would win for all on the cross and carrying them in safety finally to Himself in heaven, He does with us now: carrying us in safety in His Church here on earth protecting and feeding us His holy Word and Sacrament bringing us finally to himself in heaven.
What great joy there is for the Lord and His holy angels when a sinner repents! To the self- righteous and those trying to force us to accept their sin, repentance is something bad/ negative. But to the Lord repentance is connected to forgiveness, life and joy! Repentance is a good thing.
God’s view of the sinner? –Not only does the Lord love the sinner, not only does that love lead Him to save us sinners and draw us to Him, but there is great joy when we recognize our sin, sorrow over it and look in faith to Jesus for forgiveness of that sin. Jesus, the Good Shepherd has found us and is now carrying us on His shoulders protecting and preserving us in the true faith. With joy Jesus welcomes us repentant sinners coming to Him. What glorious words of truth Jesus’ enemies spoke—meaning evil by it, but which are sweetest words of Gospel: This Man receives sinners and eats with them. Jesus welcomes us sinners—and He will do so in a very special way in a few moments in the Holy Supper as He gives us His very body and blood for the forgiveness of sin and eternal life. INJ Amen.