In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In Luke chapter fifteen, Jesus tells three different parables all of which have the same main point. First, there’s the parable of the lost sheep. Then there’s the parable of the lost coin. And finally, there’s the parable of the prodigal son. Even though each one of these parables have different things to teach us on their own, the overarching thing that all of them teach us about is the nature of repentance. As Jesus says at the end of the parable of the lost sheep, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over nighty-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” And, again, as He says in reference to the lost coin, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

So, given the fact that these parables from Jesus are supposed to be about repentance, what I’d like to do in today’s sermon is review this important topic from the Bible and go over some of the things that we learn about it from this text.

We’ll start by simply defining what repentance actually is. As we see very clearly from the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and especially the prodigal son, the essence of repentance has to do with turning away from your sin in order to be forgiven. In fact, that’s what the word “repent” literally means. It means “to turn.” This is exactly what we see happening with the tax collectors and sinners at the beginning of our reading. These men and women were drawing near to Jesus in order to get His forgiveness. They were turning away from their sinful lives in order to receive a new life from Christ. They were repenting.

Now sometimes when people hear about Jesus welcoming sinners and eating with them, like He did in this passage, they get the wrong impression about repentance. Just like the Pharisees and the scribes from our text, they assume that this means that Jesus must have been accepting or approving of these people’s sinful behavior. But that’s not what our Lord was doing when He ate and drank with the tax collectors and sinners. Jesus wasn’t giving a “thumbs up” to their sin. He wasn’t turning a blind eye to their past transgressions, or God-forbid, encouraging them to keep on doing it. Rather, Jesus was forgiving them for it. When the people came to Him with genuine sorrow in their hearts over the things that they had done and a desire to amend their ways, that is, when they were repentant, Jesus opened His heart to them and offered them cleansing. 

All throughout the Scriptures our Lord preached both repentance and forgiveness. He didn’t just tell people that God wasn’t mad at them anymore, so go have a party and do whatever you want, He told them to stop what they were doing and receive from Him the gift of everlasting life instead. In Mark chapter one, it says that after John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.” Or think about what Jesus did that one time with the woman who was caught in adultery. Our Lord did not just defend her from her accusers and spare her life. After that, He also told her to “go and sin no more.” When Jesus came into the house of Zacchaeus, a notorious sinner, and a chief tax collector, He praised the man specifically when he confessed his sins and offered to give back all that he had stolen. Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house… For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Clearly, Jesus never encouraged people to keep on living sinful lives on purpose or to use His forgiveness as an excuse to do things that the Bible calls wrong. Those churches in our day who use passages like this one from Luke chapter fifteen to argue that we Christians should be accepting of sinful things like homosexuality or other perverted lifestyles that God’s Word condemns, because Jesus ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners, are completely abusing the text. They are twisting the Scriptures and leaving out the fact that this entire account from the Bible is all about repentance. It is literally about people turning away from their sinful lives, not about people embracing them.

Jesus describes the sheep and the coin as being lost. He says at the end of the parable of the prodigal son that the boy that ran away from home was dead. That’s the nature of sin. That’s what the Bible says about living contrary to God’s Word. Sin is actually bad. Sin really does separate us from God and deserve His temporal and eternal punishment. Sin truly does kills us. 

So, again, when the Bible says that Jesus was eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners, it doesn’t mean that He was accepting or approving of their sins. He wasn’t telling them that they were fine the way that they were and that they should keep on stealing, committing adultery, or fornicating because none of that actually matters. On the contrary, after showing people just how bad these things really are, and bringing them to their knees in fearful, but godly repentance, our Lord was lifting them up again and assuring them that He came for the precise reason of saving people just like them. Jesus was preaching repentance. He was teaching people to turn away from their sin in order to be forgiven because that’s what repentance is all about. That’s what repentance means.

Now, besides showing us what repentance means, and how it has to do with turning away from your sin in order to be forgiven, these parables of Jesus also teach us several others things about repentance that are equally important to know.

In the first place, they remind us that repentance is not just something for some people, but that it is something for all people. In fact, this was main reason why Jesus taught these three parables to begin with. His primary audience was not the tax collectors and sinners who were already listening to Him and repenting of their sin, but rather it was the Pharisees and the scribes who were watching all of it happen and complaining about it. Instead of being happy that other people were repenting and going into the kingdom of God, they were mad about it because they did not think that they needed repentance themselves. Like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son, who did not realize that in refusing to go into his father’s house at the end of the story, he was doing the exact same thing that his younger brother did at the beginning, the Pharisees and scribes were doing the same. They were refusing God’s grace. They were rejecting His Word. Even though God offered them forgiveness and salvation too, just like He did for the others, since they did not believe that they were sinners in need of it, they refused to have it. They would not accept it.

But what does the Bible teach us about sin? Does it just teach us that other people are sinners, or does it teach us that we are sinners too? Does it only teach us to look at the spec in our neighbor’s eye, or does it tell us to consider the plank in our own eye as well? Listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah from Isaiah chapter fifty-three. He writes, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” And then there are the words of Saint Peter from 1 Peter chapter one. He says, “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

When we hear about the lost sheep being found, the lost coin being recovered, and the prodigal son coming back, we aren’t just supposed to think about other people. We are supposed to think about ourselves. God wants us to realize that we too are sinners in desperate need of His grace, and that if we will not repent of our own sin, and trust in Christ for forgiveness, then we will be lost forever as well. Remember what Jesus says about repentance in Luke chapter thirteen. When some of the people came to him asking about that horrible incident where Pontus Pilate brutally murdered a group of Galileans, Jesus said, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” After that Jesus said the same thing about the people of Siloam who had the tower fall on them and crush them. He said, “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Even though all sins have the power to dam us, and there is no sin that does not need forgiveness, that does not mean that all sins are the same. The worst sin of all is the sin of not believing that you are a sinner to begin with. Which is worse, to know that you are lost in the woods and not be able to find your way out, or to be lost in the woods without realizing it, and keep on walking around in circles forever and ever? At least a person who knows that they are lost on their own will be open to another person’s help. And the same thing is true when it comes to our relationship with God. In order for us to receive His grace, we first need to come to the realization that we need it.

Again, the point here is that repentance is not just for other people. Repentance is not even just a one-time thing that happens only once in the past and after that never happens again in the future. On the contrary, we Christians are called to ongoing repentance. From the moment of our Baptism, where Jesus washes away our sin, and gives us a new identity as God’s forgiven children, we are encouraged to live a life of continuous reflection where we repeatedly examine ourselves, turn away from our failures, try and suppress our sin, and look to Christ for mercy and help. Just as the Small Catechism tells us, “What does Baptizing with such water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” 

What should you do with the lust that is in your flesh, the hatred that you feel in your bones, and the greed and the covetousness that keeps rising up in your sinful heart? You don’t give in to it and say that its good. You turn away from it and admit that its bad. You run to Christ for His forgiveness, and you use that forgiveness to keep on fighting your sin and quitting it whenever it rears its ugly head. You repent and believe the Gospel. You do that for as many days as God gives you to live.

And that leads me to the last and the most important thing that these parables teach us about repentance. They teach us that ultimately repentance is the work of God Himself. Who gets the credit when a person turns away from their sin and looks to Jesus for forgiveness? Who should we thank when someone comes back to church after being gone for a long time? Who do we praise when someone living in open sin quits it and admits that what they were doing was wrong? Do we praise ourselves? Do we pat each other on the back? No, we give thanks to God. We give all the credit to Jesus.

It was the shepherd that went out and found the lost sheep. It was the woman who turned over the whole house looking for the lost coin. It was the father who ran out to meet the son, and wouldn’t even let him finish his pre-planned speech. Whenever a person comes to repentance, that is, whenever they turn away from their sin and look to Jesus for forgiveness, whether or not they realize it in the moment, that was the work of Jesus too. As we read in Acts chapter eleven, “When they heard these things, they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”’ Just like faith, repentance is a gift from God. It is not something that we bring about ourselves, it is something that God brings about in us. God works repentance in our hearts when through the preaching of His law and gospel He shows us our sins, makes us sorry for them, and then leads us to Christ who promises to forgiven them.

The reason why it is so important for us to realize that repentance is ultimately the work of God is two-fold. First, because it keeps us from boasting in ourselves and trusting in our own works for salvation. And secondly, because it keeps us trusting in God alone for the salvation others too. We all have people in our lives that have turned their backs on the Faith, who we desperately want to be saved. But we don’t want them to be saved as much as God does. And only God can actually do it. Only His Word has the power break their sinful hearts of stone, and give them a new heart in its place. Our loved ones will not be any better off if we withhold the Scriptures from them, and they will not be any better off if we support and approve of their sin. All that we can do is bear witness to the hope that is within us. All that we can do is pray, speak the truth in love, and entrust our cause to Jesus, knowing that Jesus never stops seeking the lost. If He could find us, then surely, He can find them too. So, we leave everything to Jesus, and we rely completely on His mercy.

The parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son are supposed to teach us about repentance. Repentance means turning away from your sin and trusting in Christ for forgiveness.  God’s Word not only teaches us that everyone needs repentance, including Christians, but that God will not withhold His forgiveness from anyone who is sorry for his or her sin regardless of what it was. He will receive them back safe and sound no matter how far they have wandered from His fold. Nothing makes God happier when someone comes to repentance. Nothing gives Him more joy than giving out what Jesus laid down His life to purchase. As Jesus tells us in our text, “There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” May God fill us with the same joy of the angels. May He make us glad to see others forgiven, knowing that all of our sins have been forgiven too. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.