People, Parables, Penance

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled People, Parables and Penance, and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 15:1-10). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are standing within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Three years ago this month, I was walking through the parking lot of Menard’s in Montgomery, Illinois, and as I approached the entrance, I noticed a small dark object on the asphalt near the propane tanks. As I neared it, I saw that it was a wallet. I picked up the wallet, and looked for a driver’s license. The wallet also contained business cards, credit cards and $800 cash.

My errand to Menard’s took longer because I realized that the owner did not live far away, and with the help of the owner’s neighbor, I was able to return the wallet, its $800 and numerous credit cards to the owner. Because I left a note explaining the circumstances of my find along with my name and number, I received a call a few hours later on that Saturday afternoon from a woman who first asked if I spoke Spanish. I know enough to utter, “No hablo espanol.” She then gave the phone to her teenage son who informed me that his parents were extremely grateful and that they wanted to offer me a reward.

I declined the cash, and since I was having surgery on Monday morning, I requested instead that they pray for me. Finding something of value and returning it to its owner left me feeling happy. Now that I have told you this joyful story, let’s get on with our joyful Gospel parables.

First, people. Who are the people in today’s passage? I mean the real people, not the parable people. Who is with Jesus? There are two groups. In the first group are the tax collectors and sinners, a term to include a broad array of individuals not observing the Law and its practices. The second group is comprised of Pharisees and scribes, scrupulous laymen and men who could read, write and teach the Law and its practices.

From this latter group, we hear, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Recall from a few Sundays ago that Jesus dined at the home of a leading Pharisee (14:1-14). Jesus also reclined at table of another Pharisee (7:36-50). My point is that this group had no trouble with Jesus dining with them.

They did grumble, however, when Jesus went to eat at the home of Levi, the tax collector. And when the sinful woman anointed Jesus in the home of Simon the Pharisee, he did not even have to speak his words. Jesus read Simon’s mind. Jesus exacerbated their displeasure when he now invited the people in the first group to his table. Notice again, their complaint, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Why wouldn’t Jesus invite sinners to his table? At the end of his teaching to the Pharisees, Jesus taught them to invite to their banquets the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind because they cannot repay you for such love but you would be blessed and repaid at the resurrection of the just (14:12-14). Openness to these men and women is the lesson attached to Jesus’ parable, my second point.

Each of the parables in this chapter focuses on the joy that accompanies finding what was lost. Each parable is introduced by a question in which the loss of a single sheep or coin draws the listener’s attention away from the remaining ninety-nine sheep or nine coins safely possessed. Jesus abandons the question in favor of a declarative statement about the activity of the individuals who have now found their lost sheep and coin, and invite friends and neighbors to join in their rejoicing over the recovery.

Jesus’ pattern – question and descriptive declaration – assumes that his listeners, especially the scribes and Pharisees, agree. They grasped his point. Having done so, they should now begin to understand the situation of sinners who repent and the heavenly rejoicing which accompanies their repentance.

These two parables provide the foundation for Jesus’ openness to tax collectors and sinners, and as they drew near to him, we see this as an expression of their repentance. By receiving them, he accepts their repentance. By hosting them at his table, he communicates solidarity with them as they do with him. In short, while these two parables prepare the people (and us readers) for the third, they also present the Christian meal as a joyful celebration of salvation.

The point of Jesus’ parables – talking about things that are lost and then found – is to talk about the joy of finders-keepers. Those who have been with me in our study of Isaiah understand the vast numbers of people who were forcibly displaced by conquering powers. We see it today in Ukraine. In the ancient world as people fled their homes and belongings in search of survival, this caused many things to get lost or abandoned. Animals, things and people were left with no protection, value or stability. When the subsequent seeking person was one of means, love or concern, that was good news indeed for lost animals, things and people who are now found.

Even though the scribes and Pharisees understood Jesus’ parable, they were not willing to apply it to their faith lives. Are we? Have we? As Head of the Church, Jesus calls to His table not only the poor, crippled, lame and blind, but also the fallen away and those who have not yet approached the Lord’s Table. Luke applied this parable to Christians who heard the Word of God and ate and drank the Body and Blood of Christ so that they would do so worthily. That said, let me move to my third point, Penance.

When I was studying in the seminary, we covered Canon Law or Church Law for three semesters. Canon is the Greek word for rule, norm, standard or measure. The word is used to discuss the Bible, a particular form of worship, and law. Part of the three semesters was spent on the Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as Confession or Penance. As our professor, Father Vincent Grogan, OFM., was lecturing on the topic of Penance, a classmate asked how we would know if an individual is contrite. Father Grogan replied plainly, “Gentlemen, the fact that someone is before you tells you that they are contrite.”

I mention that because there is nothing in our passage that tells us that these people were contrite. All that Luke wrote is that “the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.” There is no mention of any of them being remorseful, repentant or regretful, but the fact that they were there tells us that they were. When I look at you as we open our Divine Service with Confession and Absolution, and hear you speak the words of sorrow and beg God for mercy, I do not see people beating their breasts or falling to their knees. I do not hear sobbing and wailing, but by the fact that you are here before me reciting the words infers that you are penitent and contrite.

One of the reasons that Jesus was able to receive sinners and eat with them is experience. It is true that he spent time with Pharisees and scribes. At a young age, he was in the Temple sitting among the teachers. He also had been to the homes of other Pharisees, and had a good relationship with Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. It is equally true that, unlike these two groups of people, Jesus did not separate himself from those who needed him the most – lepers, the possessed and all those with afflictions. Experience told him to welcome sinners to his table and eat with them. Luke recorded that Jesus also healed the servant of the Roman centurion and shared the Good News with Zachaeus the chief tax collector, both people shunned by Pharisees and scribes.

When I started in pastoral ministry, I did field work. Apart from learning how to lead worship and manage classrooms, I worked in a state prison and a county jail. I visited a lot of sick, frail, aged and dying people in their homes, nursing homes and hospitals. Later, I initiated support groups for the divorced and separated and a program for incarcerated women. My reason for telling you this is that at a certain point in any relationship, when people sense that you are attentive to their deepest needs, they open not only the doors to their homes, rooms and cells, but also their minds and hearts.

Jesus had that attentiveness and fulfilled people’s deepest needs. Jesus fulfilled our deepest need for reconciliation with God the Father through His Paschal Mystery – His suffering, death and resurrection – 2022 years ago and today through His Word and Sacraments. He does that today through the Holy Spirit in His Church.

Christ calls us to His table because we need to be reconciled with our Father and with one another. He does that for us. Today, on 9/11, we reinstall the Sign of Peace as a reminder that as Christians, as little Christs, we need to make peace with one another before we bring our gift to God’s altar.

Friends, Jesus fulfills our deepest need for reconciliation, and sends us into the world in order to imitate Him and His love. With whom do you dine? With whom do you rejoice? Who do you welcome? Who are your lost sheep?

Seeking lost sheep, lost souls, sin-sick souls is what we do as Church and Church members. Presidents and politicians will not do this. Social media and multi-media companies will not do this. Even well-intentioned community organizations and service centers do not prioritize seeking the lost. Each has an agenda, and it’s not the salvation of souls – yours, mine or anyone’s. Bringing people to Christ who intercedes for them at God the Father’s right hand is our joyful mission, our jubilant purpose, our delightful reason for being in this world.

As I was finishing this sermon, I was intrigued by an article on why there are no refugee camps for Ukrainian refugees in Poland. The people of Poland are not putting the refugees in camps, isolated from society, but welcoming them into their homes and integrating them into their nation. Putin’s poorly equipped, miserably led, and brutish army invaded Ukraine and displaced millions of people. Because Christian Poles open their homes to those who lost everything but their lives, and welcome them like the wayward son was exuberantly welcomed by his faither, we too find joy in the joining of what was lost and now is found.

Through our own sin, we were lost; by God’s grace, we are found. Friends, relish in the joy of the Church Triumphant for you have been found. Delight in how you will be received in heaven as you welcome into your life those lost who can be saved. When you do, may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus Amen.