June 25 Trinity 3 The Sunday of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin
Trinity 3
Luke 15:1-10
June 25, 2023
“How to NOT be a Hypocrite”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Which sickness would be worse? Would it be worse to be terribly sick with a flu, having a high fever, chills and sweats, vomiting repeatedly, diarrhea, feeling like you were dying? Or would it be worse to feel absolutely great, to feel as if everything were normal and good and healthy, and yet to unknowingly have cancer growing in numerous organs of your body? Which is worse?
The flu is easy to see the symptoms and you know you’re very sick. And yet, depending on your age and the specific type of flu, you’ll most likely recover fine. Cancer, on the other hand, has a much greater potential to be severe. If it’s already in numerous organs of your body then your time could be very limited and yet you don’t even recognize that you’re sick. That, certainly, is a much worse sickness even though for now the illness is entirely internal. No external sign of it.
Now some sins are like the flu. They’ve very external sins. Everyone can see them and everyone knows them. Everyone can see you’re sick like with the tax collectors and the prostitutes. Everyone knew they were sick. Today there are still sins like that. External sins that all can see. Those who are still prostitutes. Those with alcohol problems, drug problems, men and women in prison for various crimes. No question they’re all sinners. They’ve got the flu. We can all see it. Those who practice homosexuality, those who have been party to abortions, those who practice abortions, those who cheat on their wives or husbands or abuse them, those who hate God, those who never, ever set foot in a Church. All of these are external sins. Everyone can see them. They’ve got the flu. They’re sick.
But remember, which sickness is worse? Not the flu, right? External sins are easily seen and can be quickly healed with repentance and forgiveness. They don’t hide as easily as other sicknesses. The tax collectors and prostitutes were all coming to Jesus. Why? Because they clearly saw they were sick. They knew they needed the Doctor of Souls. No question. And what did Jesus say about the tax collectors and prostitutes? Did He say that they’re the worst kind of sinners and that they’ll never get into heaven? No, not at all. He said that they would go into the kingdom of God before the Pharisees. That’s Matthew 21:31. “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.”
The worse sickness is cancer. Some sins are much more like cancer than the flu. The hardest sins are those cancerous ones like pride, arrogance, hypocrisy, greed. They hide themselves deep in our hearts and we often don’t even recognize that we’re sick. These are the deadliest. That’s why tax collectors and prostitutes come to Jesus while Pharisees and scribes refuse to come to Him. Because they’re sickness is greater. Jesus says to them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”
In Revelation 3:17, Jesus rips on those in the Church of Laodicea, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing. But you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” They were sick with the cancers of pride and hypocrisy and yet they didn’t even recognize it. So with the Pharisees and scribes today.
That’s why the Pharisees grumble when they see Jesus eating and hanging out with tax collectors and prostitutes. Because they’re hypocrites! They think they’re not as sick as the tax collectors and prostitutes and yet their own sickness is far, far worse. They’re filled with the cancer of hypocrisy. And because hypocrisy and pride are such deadly sins, Jesus tells us three parables in Luke chapter 15 about how God is always searching for every sinner. No one is excluded. He wants all sinners, no matter what the sickness. And that includes you. That’s how Jesus is going to teach you to NOT be a hypocrite. These parables of the lost sheep and lost coin.
Now you ought to listen to this sermon today. For one, you ought to listen to every sermon because it’s God’s Word and He tells you to listen. But especially today, you ought to listen because I don’t think any one of you likes the idea of being a hypocrite. I don’t think you want to be a hypocrite. God has written His Law on our hearts and some of His law sticks in our hearts more than others. Some things make us especially ashamed. And being called a hypocrite is one of them. It stings. And since I don’t think any one of you in here wants to be a hypocrite, you ought to listen. Because Jesus tells us how NOT to be a hypocrite. You must go to the cancer center. Always. You must always be keeping your appointments at the cancer center where Jesus is the Doctor. I’ll come back to that.
I want to now tell you the story of what happened on another June 25th, 493 years ago, in Augsburg, Germany. It was the day that the Lutherans presented to the Emperor our foundational confession of faith—the Augsburg Confession. I have a few copies of this Augsburg Confession on the back table in the narthex. Please take one if you like. If they’re all gone after Church I’ll order more. If you have a copy of the Lutheran Confessions (the Book of Concord) it’s in there so you don’t need this little book.
You’ll remember that Luther nailed the 95 theses in 1517. So this is 13 years later. What took so long for the Emperor to deal with this heretic, Martin Luther? He was distracted. He had other fights to fight and finally got around to scheduling a meeting in 1530 in Augsburg where he hoped to finally squash these Lutherans. These Lutherans were the tax collectors and prostitutes. They were the heretics. The obvious sinners. And finally the Emperor and the Pope were bound together at this meeting in Augsburg to say, “No more eating and hanging out with these Lutheran sinners.”
But what did the Lutherans say? They presented this beautiful and moving document called the Augsburg Confession. It took about two hours to read it in German. Most sources say the Emperor was attentive the whole time although at least one says he feel asleep at a point. But that didn’t matter either way. Because the confession was made. And it still stands solid to this very day. We subscribe ourselves to it as pastors and as congregations. So what does the Augsburg Confession say?
It says that the Church is one big cancer center, one big hospital for sinners. It says that Jesus came to eat with tax collectors and prostitutes. It says the Church isn’t a place for Pharisees and scribes who are hypocrites, making up all their own man-made traditions and rules that one must keep to get in. No! The only way in is repentance and faith. Because we’re all deathly sick with the cancer of sin. We’re all deathly sick with the cancer of pride and greed and hypocrisy.
On the front east pillar of our church, when you walk in, there’s a stone that says, “Trinity Lutheran Church U.A.C.” The U.A.C. is “Unaltered Augsburg Confession.” (Later on some alterations were made that weren’t right so you have to make sure to state clearly the unaltered one.) This Confession is so important that it’s name is inscribed on the very stone pillars of our church. What do you think of that?
The Confession is 28 total articles. First article states who God is—Father, Son, and Spirit. But then article two walks right into the cancer center. Original sin. It states that all of us, no matter what external symptoms we have—all of us are sick. Deathly sick. And we all need a doctor. Then Article 3 tells us who the doctor is—Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Then Article 4 tells us the treatment that Jesus uses for cancer patients like us. Let me read it, “Our churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merit, or works. People are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By His death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight.”
Then it goes on, of course, in many other articles. Telling us where where to find the cancer center—the Church. Telling us that in the cancer center of the Church we receive the Word and Sacraments are our healing medicine. And finally, at the end of the document, in the last articles they condemn those hypocritical and Pharisaical traditions and rules which kept tax collectors and prostitutes from being able to come to Jesus. They condemned those rules that said some people weren’t welcome at the cancer center.
Now since you Lutherans and Christians are armed with this Augsburg Confession and with the truth of God’s Word, you are ready to NOT be a hypocrite. It’s a daily struggle for all of us because we are, indeed, so sick with pride. But to NOT be a hypocrite you keep that Augsburg Confession close in heart and in hand and you keep going to the cancer center. You must always know your sicknesses and keep going to the Doctor of Souls. And this is the cancer center—the Church. The Divine Service! This is where the healing happens. This is where you to learn to NOT be a hypocrite.
Jesus, the Doctor, tells us the story of the Lost Sheep. That lost sheep is you and me and every other patient at this cancer center. That lost sheep is the tax collector, the prostitute, the homosexual, the atheist, the prideful, the gossip, the addict. Every single one of us is sick with the cancer of sin. And we won’t ever say, “Hey, don’t let those sinners in. They’ve got the flu!” So what if they’ve got the flu? Our cancer is just as bad or even worse. All who recognize their sin and repent of it are welcome here. Jesus is seeking all of them. The only ones He’s not seeking is the 99 righteous ones who say, “We don’t need any repentance.” The only ones that Jesus can’t heal are those who refuse to be healed. Those who reject His healing medicine. Everyone else – come on in!
And how about the parable of the lost coin? Do you know that the Federal Reserve has a big machine, at one time called the BPS 3000 (banknote processing system…not sure if it’s still in use or not), that processes all the bills of money and finds all the sick ones? All the lost dollar bills who are ripped, torn, wrinkled, and overused? It scans them all and any who are sick are shredded and replaced with brand new ones?
Now Jesus doesn’t shred you to pieces but He does, here at the cancer center with the processing machine of His Word, scan you for all your cancers, all your rips and tears and wrinkles, and He does make you brand new with the healing medicine of the Sacrament? Coins are treated a bit differently, of course. Those are sorted out and the sick ones are melted down to be made into new coins.
You and I are lost coins. Rusted, corroded, hiding in the dirt and dust and crusted food under the seats of cars. But here at the cancer center Jesus throws a party for crusted over coins. He melts us down with the power of His Word and makes us new, imprinting His very image right onto us so that we’re treasured coins to be saved and collected eternally.
When you keep coming here to the Church, to the cancer center, you keep realizing how sick you are. You keep realizing that you’re the lost sheep. You’re the lost coin. And this keeps you from being a hypocrite who thinks others aren’t good enough to be here with you.
So I want to leave you with an image of a cancer center. Many of you have been to cancer centers. I’ve been to a couple of them with family members. Do people in cancer centers look down on one another? To they treat each other with hypocritical contempt? “Ugh, look at that one. There goes someone riddled with cancer. There goes a tax collector. There goes a prostitute.” No, of course not. There’s a natural comradery between all those at the cancer center. Because they’re all sick. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got breast cancer or brain cancer. You’re sick. And they rejoice together for healing.
The Church is such a place. An even better place. Because here we know the healing is guaranteed. Because we know that we’re all sick with the worst cancers, we don’t look down on one another like hypocrites. Instead, we keep each other accountable in love. We keep calling each other to repentance, faithfully and not hypocritically. Because we know we all need the Doctor of Souls.
Don’t be a hypocrite. Know your sickness and stick close to your Doctor. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.