Pentecost 17
“Unimaginable Mercy”
Text: Luke 15:1-10 (Exodus 32:7-14; 1 Timothy
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus is concerned with individuals, not
numbers. If you are concerned with
numbers, the two parables that Jesus spoke, and which we heard today, make no
sense to you. In fact, they are quite
ludicrous! For why would anyone leave the 99 good, healthy,
behaving sheep – leave them alone, in jeopardy and danger – to go and search
for the one who wandered away?? Why
would anyone spend more money on a party for finding a lost
coin than was the value of the lost coin?
If you are concerned with numbers, these things make no sense to you at
all. But by asking such questions, we
show that we do not have the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ where
each individual life is of infinite worth. Where each individual life
is worth His own.
And so the parables that we heard today show us the
mercy of God – a mercy which, quite frankly, is too much for us to imagine or
grasp. We can only, by faith, believe
it, and thank God for it. For without
this mercy, we would all have long ago been not only lost, but destroyed.
The first two readings we heard today give us a
picture of this mercy, that we may believe it.
That we may believe that this is who God has always been and what He has
always given to His people. First we
heard from the Old Testament, the book of Exodus. God had just rescued His people from the
And yet, at the prayer of Moses (and what a gift
Moses turned out to be for his people!), God relented. He did not give His people what they
deserved. He did not turn His anger
against them. He didn’t give up on them
and choose a different people – ones who would be appropriately grateful. God had mercy on His people. For that is who God is, and what He does: He shows mercy. As we sang in the Introit: “The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God
is full of compassion.”
Then we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to his
young partner-pastor Timothy. And we see
that the mercy of God is even greater here.
For we hear of God showing mercy not to His people, but to an enemy. Paul, as he freely admits, was “a
blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” of God and His Church. Taking every opportunity to persecute, kill,
and otherwise damage and put of out business these new churches that were
following Jesus Christ. If the early
church had put out a deck of playing cards with their most-wanted enemies on
them (like our military did in
What is this mercy of God? That would rescue ungrateful,
calf-worshipping people? That would
rescue an enemy who was trying to destroy His Church? That would rescue people like you and me?
This is mercy the Scribes and Pharisees didn’t
understand . . . or didn’t want to understand.
They grumbled against Jesus, and accused Him, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with
them.” But so it has been all
along with God. And so it will continue
to be. There is perhaps no more sure
sign of the presence of God than to be surrounded by sinners! For that’s who He came for. Those are His people!
Each and every one of them. Each and every one who came out of
And so it is today, in this place. Jesus is here in His Word and Sacrament,
surrounded by sinners. Sinners in the community, sinners in these pews, and the sinner in
this pulpit. And He is here not
in judgment, but in mercy. Here to give;
here to forgive; here to make you His own.
Not concerned with numbers is Jesus.
For He only has eyes for you. Each one of you. No
matter how many or how few gather, His mercy, love, and forgiveness is never
diluted or spread thin. It is all here,
and it is all for you. For you He comes
and searches, giving His life for yours, and considering that a trade
worth making!
For think about that . . . who are we? We are people who are worse, far worse, that simply a coin that
becomes lost through no fault of its own.
We are ones who have left our Saviour willingly, following the sinful
desires of our hearts, delighting in our sin.
. . . We are people who are
worse, far worse, than simply sheep
who have innocently wandered off, seductively lured away by the promise of a
greener pasture. We are ones who have deliberately
turned our back on the Good Shepherd, choosing instead to go where we know we
should not go; to do what we know we should not do; to speak what we know we
should not speak; to think what we know we should not think; to desire what we
know we should not desire; to touch what we know we should not touch; to see
what we know we should not see. We are
the worst of sinners. It is not hard to
see.
And so we couldn’t blame God for being just a little
bit angry! At us
ungrateful, sin-worshipping people.
. . . And yet where is He? He is here, calling us back to Himself. He is here, surrounding Himself with
sinners. He is here, in mercy and
forgiveness, giving the fruits of His cross to us who put Him on that cross. He is here, searching us out, and not content
to lose a single one. This is a mercy
that is too much for us to imagine or grasp.
But believe it, for it is true.
Your Saviour is here for you, proclaiming your sins forgiven, feeding
you with His body and blood, and not letting you go until He blesses you with
His nail-scarred hands. He is
relentless. His mercy and love will let
Him do nothing less.
And we showed that we believe this earlier in the
liturgy. As we sang the Kyrie – four times we sang “Lord,
have mercy.” For without His
mercy, we are nothing. Without His
mercy, we will be destroyed. “Lord,
have mercy” is the prayer of the sinner who has nothing and must depend
and rely on God for everything. . .
. Yet we pray this prayer not in
uncertain hope, but in confidence, for mercy is who our Saviour is, and what He
has promised to give us. And so we know
that our prayers are answered, and so immediately after the Kyrie we sing a hymn of praise and
thanksgiving. That is faith. For although we may not yet have received, or
may not be able to see it, we believe.
We know that God is faithful.
And then we also show that we believe this in our
lives that we live in the world, showing the mercy to others that God has shown
to us. To each and
every one of us. Individually, personally, and specially. And here I will close with an example told by
Norman Nagel, a professor at our
I pray that we will never be the church known for
that. And I am confident that we will
not. For here is a
place for sinners, of whom I, and you, and the worst. Here is our Saviour calling to us and to all,
in mercy and love. And here we come to repent,
and to receive that mercy, the forgiveness of our sins, and faith. Our Saviour, who offered up His life for us,
and in our place, on the cross, cannot help Himself. For He rose from the grave
in triumph and is still working, and searching, to give that triumph to us. To each one of us. No matter who you
are, or how sinful you may be. And
wonderful news like that just cannot be kept quiet!
“The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full
of compassion.”
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.