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Third Sunday After Trinity, June 16, 2024

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Third Sunday After Trinity, June 16, 2024

Jesus uses these parables to deliver us into a profound truth:  to be found is a passive event. The seeker is the active subject of the sentence; the lost is the passive object of the sentence. The seeker finds while the lost is found. Popular psychology aside, no one “finds” themselves, even if that “found” self is some sort of authentic self.” The condition of being found is always imposed upon the lost by an outside actor… the one who accomplishes the finding. This is the truth revealed by repentance: no one finds themselves… the lost do not become the found on their own… a finder is necessary.

When the finding is accomplished, just look at the result: the finder rejoices… heaven rejoices… the whole neighborhood rejoices… even the angels celebrate. When Jesus calls out the ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance (vs. 7), he calls out a fiction. In this old, passing away creation (the one in which Jesus was standing and you and I are now standing), there are no righteous people except in their own imaginations. Everyone needs repentance. Jesus preached it (Mk. 1:15), Paul preached it (Ro. 2:4). Peter preached it (2 Pe. 3:9). John preached it (Rev. 2:16). Your preacher preaches it, not merely repentance once but repentance time and time again. Repentance recognizes that you are a lost and condemned sinner who cannot find yourself but have now been found by the Good Shepherd, the one shepherd who matters.

We have often sung together: “… I once was lost but now am found…” The being found is always an act of God’s grace which reveals the sinner as being lost… dead in the grip of their sin ((Ro. 6:11), but in being found are now alive in the life of Christ (Ro. 6:11). God’s Word is actively seeking you out today. As it is poured in your ears, the Holy Spirit goes to work repenting you and possessing you with a faith that will not leave you in your lost condition. You are found. Heaven rejoices.  The angels celebrate. Your neighbors are full of joy. You are the sinner repented.

Luke 15:1–10

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.

3 So he told them this parable: 4 What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

8 Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost. 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.