Rejoice Over One Sinner that Repents

Homily for Sunday, September 14, 2025
The Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Luke 15:1-10

Though many have noted how Matthew’s Gospel is filled with judgment – recall, for example, Matthew’s Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids in which the foolish bridesmaids are shut out from wedding banquet; or recall, too, Matthew’s parable of the sheep and goats in which the“goats” are sent into “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels”(Matt 25:31-46); or note, too, how many times in Matthew (in a phrase used only by Matthew) those condemned are cast into the “outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 8:12; 22:13; 25:30) – [though many have noted how Matthew’s Gospel is filled with judgment,] Luke’s Gospel, too, is filled with judgment.

Remember, for example, Luke’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus in which the rich man is condemned to “agony in these flames” (16:19-31).  Remember, too, Luke’s Parable of the Ten Pounds in which the nobleman, whom the citizens of that country did not want to rule over them, when he came back from his journey, had those citizens slaughtered (22:11-27).  Or recall the story in Luke about “those whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices,” and those on whom the tower of Siloam fell – Jesus said to his listeners, “Unless you repent, you will perish just as they did” (13:1-5). And along with Matthew, Luke tells such “judge-y” parables as of the Faithful and Unfaithful Slaves in which the unfaithful slaves are “cut to pieces” (Lk12:42-48; Mt 24:45-51), and also the Parable of the Narrow Door, through which many will try to enter but not be able (Lk 13:23-24; Matt 7:13-14).  Like Matthew, Luke’s Gospel is filled with judgment.

Luke’s “judgmental” side stands in contrast to how we tend to think of Luke, which is as a Gospel of mercy.  It is Luke, for example,who tells the story of the Prodigal who – despite having “devoured (his father’s) property with prostitutes” – yet when he returned home, his father “was filled with compassion, (and) ran and put his arms around (his son) and kissed him” and killed the fatted calf (15:11-32).  It is Luke who tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan in which Jesus asks, “’Which of these three… was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’ ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said, ‘Go, and do likewise’” (10:25-37).  And it is Luke who tells the story of Jesus on the cross forgiving the thief who repented:  “Today you will be with me in paradise”  (23:40-43).  

What accounts for this divergence in Luke, on the one hand the strong note of judgment – a judgment that in Luke is final, with no middle ground – and on the other hand, Luke’s beautiful stories about God’s abundant mercy?

The key is found in the opening line of today’s Gospel lesson:  “All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.  And the Pharisees and scribes were grumbling,saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”  In his Gospel, Luke draws a sharp distinction between those who know they are “sinners” and those whom he calls “self-righteous.” And so for example in Luke Mary sings, “He has scattered the proud in their conceit… [but he] has lifted up the lowly.”  And Jesus says, “Woe to you, Pharisees…”(11:42), but then dines in the home of tax collectors like Zacchaeus (19:1-10). In Luke Jesus welcomes a woman who is a sinner and who bathes his feet with her tears and dries them with her hair, but he reprimands his host Simon, a Pharisee (7:36-50).

In Luke, though Jesus is stern with those who believe themselves righteous, Jesus never turns away a sinner.  Not once.  To be sure, Jesus wants sinners to repent:  “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance,” he says (5:32); but Jesus never turns away a sinner.

As we hear this morning’s Gospel lesson, we can take assurance that Jesus will not abandon us who know we are sinners.  Even though we may have strayed, Jesus assures us that he will come look for us:

Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine… and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?  

And Jesus delights in finding us.  Luke writes:  “When he has found [the lost sheep], he lay sit on his shoulder and rejoices.”  And not only does Jesus delight when we are found, the whole of heaven rejoices:  “I tell you,” Jesus says, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine persons who need no repentance.”

And in case we didn’t get the point, in this morning’s Gospel Jesus tells a second parable:  

Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I lost.”  Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of angels… over one sinner who repents.

I wonder, were to you spend time with this morning’s passage, where might you find yourself in this story?  Might you be the one sheep?  Or might you be the woman sweeping her house?  And I wonder, too, what might it be like if Jesus found you and placed you on his shoulders, or what it might be like to be invited to rejoice with the woman found the coin?

Luke’s Gospel is filled with judgment, stern judgment; in Luke, for those who believe themselves better than others, Jesus takes them to task.  But Jesus never, ever, not once, turns away one who knows they are a sinner - and he seeks them out.  And when he finds those who have gone astray – when he finds us – he lays us on his shoulders and rejoices.  For, as he says, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who need no repentance.”