Tag Archives: Restoration

The Pattern – Sermon on Luke 19:41-48 for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity

Luke 19:41–48

41 And when [Jesus] drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”

47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

As the Bible traces through human history, a regular pattern develops. The pattern goes like this: God creates something. Sinful humans defile it. God cleanses it. Then, God refills it. Over and over this happens.

In Genesis 6, we are told that mankind had filled the earth (Gen. 1:28). But because of sin, mankind’s every intention was only evil continually (Gen. 6:5). But Noah found grace in the Lord’s eyes (Gen. 6:8). So, God told Noah that He was about to cleanse the earth with a flood, but Noah, his family, and the animals would be preserved on the ark. After that cleansing, God commanded Noah and his family to, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1).

Of course, not long after the cleansing of the Flood, people defiled the earth again by not filling it. Instead, they built the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9). And the pattern began again. God came down to cleanse by confusing their languages and dispersing them over the face of all the earth. God then filled the earth with His blessing to Abraham that Abraham’s Offspring would bless all nations (Gen. 15).

Later in Exodus, we see God creating a great number of people to be His own. God delivered them out of slavery in Egypt to be His chosen people and treasured possession (Ex. 19:6). But they repeatedly defiled themselves. They would grumble and complain about their lack of food (Ex. 16) and water (Ex. 17:1-7). They made the golden calf (Ex. 32). Again and again, God would cleanse them by sending punishment. And He would fill them with water and mana.

The whole book of Judges follows this pattern. People would defile themselves and the land with all sorts of sin. God would raise up their enemies and cleanse them through punishment. And God would fill them.

In our Old Testament reading (Jer. 7:1-11), we heard how even as God’s people were in the act of defiling themselves and God’s Temple, God sent Jeremiah to try to cleanse them through his preaching. Jeremiah warned the people about their sins of injustice, oppression, shedding innocent blood, and idolatry. But the people didn’t listen. They kept on defiling themselves, the land God had given them, and even of God’s house. So, God sent the Babylonians to cleanse the land by destroying Jerusalem and the Temple. Later, God allowed them to return, fill the land, and rebuild.

Creating, defiling, cleansing, filling. Over and over this happens. It’s almost like clockwork. But there is a danger with how often this pattern occurs in Scripture. That danger is this: we can too easily become complacent and nonchalant. We might be tempted to be indifferent and unconcerned about our sins and presume that God doesn’t care, “He’ll just cleanse and refill me.” Dear saints, be very careful about that kind of attitude. Don’t do it.

In our Gospel reading here, Jesus draws near to Jerusalem. If you look at the verses just prior to this text, you will see that Jesus is weeping over Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This is one of only two times that Jesus weeps in the Gospels. The other time happened shortly before this in John 11:35 where Jesus sees the sadness and despair that His friends have over Lazarus’ death. There, of course, Jesus raises Lazarus and defeats death’s grip over His friends. And there is the sense there that Jesus goes to Jerusalem and to the cross to deal the deathblow to death.

But here, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem for an entirely different reason. Listen carefully again to what Jesus says, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” The only thing that would bring peace to Jerusalem, the only thing that would bring the cleansing they needed, was what Jesus would accomplish that upcoming Friday when He would go to the cross and shed His blood for the forgiveness of all their sin. But that peace was hidden from their eyes. You have to notice that. ‘Hidden’ is in the passive tense. It isn’t as though the people of Jerusalem were refusing to look for the things that made for peace. No, it’s worse than that. The things that make for peace were hidden, and they were hidden by Someone. God Himself had hidden it from their eyes.

This is what the theologians will call God’s ‘alien’ work as opposed to His natural work. Yes, God’s mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:23). He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Ex. 34:6). By His very nature, God cleanses. He forgives and restores. He fills with good things (Lk. 1:53). That is who God is by His nature. But God is not mocked. To those who repeatedly and sinfully reject the cleansing He desires to bring, God will eventually hand you over to your sin (Ro. 1:24, 26, 28). Repent.

After weeping over Jerusalem, Jesus enters the Temple to cleanse it. And every day until He was arrested, Jesus filled the Temple with His teaching. Why would He do that? If the things that make for peace were hidden from the eyes of those people, why would Jesus bother to cleanse the Temple and fill it with His teaching? He did it for you. He wants you to hear and believe that He desires to cleanse and fill you. Jesus wants you to know and to have the things that make for peace so that you repent, believe, and have the peace that only He can give.

This pattern of God creating, us defiling, God cleansing and filling has happened again here this morning. Through faith in Christ, God has made you a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Though you have sinned against God, He cleansed you through confession and absolution. And He is filling you with His teaching. But He is about to fill you with something even more.

Christ comes to fill you with Himself, with His Body and Blood. He comes to give you what you need to care for the people and places God has given you. Today, if you are hearing this message, the things that make for peace are not hidden from you. So, turn from your sin. Receive God’s forgiveness. Be filled with God’s Word, His mercy, and His grace. Daily hang on Jesus’ words.

In a world that is filled with the defilement of sin, receive God’s cleansing, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Father’s Feast – Sermon for the Third Sunday of Trinity on Luke 15:1-32

Listen here.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Three parables. A shepherd seeks and finds his lost sheep. A woman seeks and finds her lost coin. And a father seeks and finds his lost son. Yes, the father is the one doing all the work to restore his son – not the other way around.

Jesus teaches these parables in response to the Pharisees and scribes who were grumbling about the company Jesus was keeping. Christ was eating with tax collectors (read thieving traitors) and sinners (read prostitutes and adulterers).

Now, it is not as though the Pharisees and scribes would say they were sinless and perfect. They would admit their sin, that they weren’t perfect. But in their minds, their sin certainly wasn’t as bad as those shady characters surrounding Jesus.

In fact, these grumblers might have argued that they cared about the tax collectors and sinners more than Jesus because they didn’t want them to continue in their sin. They would have called them to repent and change their ways. Try harder. Live better. Do some good works.

The Pharisees and scribes see Jesus associating and eating with these sinners as though their behavior doesn’t matter at all. Is Jesus soft when it comes to sin? Is Jesus liberal when it comes to lifestyles? Is He tolerant and affirming of their evil? Does Jesus’ mercy mean that sin doesn’t matter to Him?

Tuck that question in the back of your mind because we will find the answer when we compare the parables. The three parables all have the same outline and progression. Something is lost; that thing is found and restored; and there is a party. But Jesus tells all three. He could have just told the parable of the shepherd seeking and finding his lost sheep, but He didn’t. Each parable helps us to see what is happening in the others.

First, we have to see who the hero is in each of the parables, and it is the one who finds, restores, and invites to the feast. As the shepherd finds and restores the sheep and as the woman finds and restores the coin, we have to remember the father finds and restores the lost son.

The son is not the hero. The son’s pig-pen plan is not to become a son again. As he is sitting in the slop, he realizes that his life would be better as a servant of his father. But the father is like the shepherd who does the work of searching out and carrying home the lost sheep. He sees his son from a distance, runs to him, and brings him home. The father is like the woman sweeping her house. He picks up his son from the dust of his slavish plan. The father cleans the piggy poo from his boy and brings him back into his home.

 

You see, the heroes in each story all do the same thing. They seek, find, and save the lost. Then, the hero throws a feast. So back to our question: By eating with these sinners, is Jesus implying that the sin doesn’t matter?

Well, again, look at the parables. Consider each thing that gets lost. Sheep get lost, and shepherds don’t blame the sheep. And the only time a coin gets lost is when its owner messes up. So, if Jesus had only told the first two parables, we might think that sin doesn’t matter. In fact, if we only consider the second parable the lostness is God’s fault.

But then, comes the third parable, and we see what causes that separation. The son who wishes his father was dead. The son who wastes his father’s living. The son who brings embarrassment and shame to his entire family. The son who squanders his father’s good gifts until there is nothing left. The son is to blame for his lostness.

The scribes and Pharisees were tough on sin, but Jesus is even more so. Jesus knows who He is eating with. He knows what these sinners have done. And He knows what you have done.

Jesus knows what you have taken. Jesus knows what your eyes have seen when they should have turned away. Jesus isn’t blind to your sin. He knows it all. He knows that you have acted like the lost son wishing that He were dead and out of your life.

And, yet, He still sees you as His lost sheep. He cherishes you and searches for you. He loves you regardless of yourself. He spares no cost in restoring you and rejoicing over you. This is how your heavenly Father is toward you, sinner.

Today, on Fathers’ Day it is good for us to remember that God is the source of all fatherhood. Too often, we flip the script. When the Bible talks about God being our Father, we think that our earthly fathers are where we can get an idea about who God is. It’s the other way around.

Fathers, learn your vocation from your Heavenly Father. Be the loving, seeking, restoring, patient, kind, merciful father to your family in the same way that God has been toward you. And remember that God and all the hosts of heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents and is restored.

You see, God cares about all the lost. He cares about the one out of one hundred. He cares about the one out of ten. He cares about the one out of two. And He still cares about the one who will not come and feast with Him. Your heavenly Father cares about all. He cares about you.

Because Jesus has died and lives again, He invites you to His feast. So, come. Come and celebrate your Father’s mercy toward you and toward all. Rejoice with God in what He is doing and what He has done. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds inChrist Jesus. Amen.