“THE PIECE WHICH
WAS LOST HAS THE PEACE OF GOD”
Saint Luke 15.
1-10
3rd Sunday after Trinity: 6 July Anno +
Domini 2014
Fr Jay Watson
SSP
Jesus always draws near. He approaches His
own as well as those lost sheep that He wants in His sheepfold. Tax collectors
and sinners appreciate His concern and charity. They accept on bended knees His
mercy and gifts. But Pharisees, Scribes, and the hypocritical selves that “are you” murmur saying “this man receiveth people that are
disgusting, and eats with them.” Hatred of the other is “hard wired” in the sinner from the “fall.” Not only was Luther correct when he said that
man by nature is a schwermerai, i.e. an “enthusiast,” but man by nature is also a Manichean, i.e. a “dualist,” seeing everything in black & white, hero &
villain; with himself as the good guy and every strange, foreign, and different
thinking person as the bad guy—the enemy. Repent! Christians should not murmur or complain they
should praise and give thanks. Christians should not gossip and criticize they
should put the best construction on everything and build up their
neighbor—putting him first. Christians should not constantly have their
feelings hurt and luxuriate in grudges they should forgive and forgive and yes
forget! No follower of the Christ should be mean, disagreeable or
domineering—period!
For before you were brothers and sisters
of Jesus you were all worse than prostitutes or lepers. Before you were rescued
you were even more pathetic than breathing, mammalian lost sheep—you were
inanimate and dead coinage; inert and useless, no better than bent slugs,
because you were lost—gone!
But you were found by Jesus. He found you.
His parable beautifully illustrates in its last section how you were found. You
did not have the Rabbi from Nazareth approach you directly like He did
Zacchaeus or Jairus. Jesus ascended to fill all things and to be the Head of
His Body the Church. No matter how
infected you are by the heresy of American independence and individualistic,
atomistic hegemony, the truth of The Church remains the Truth. The Church is Christ’s
way of His means of saving to take place. The woman in the parable is His
Church—His pastors, His people, His Sacraments, His rites, rubrics, liturgy,
His lections & hymnody, and His gifts and grace!
Yes the woman, the Church, has ten pieces of
silver. Ten is the number of the Law. The commandments are the launching out
point but not the destination. There is joy in obedience and service but for
fallen man that will not be realized
until heaven. The Law kills. The deposit
is misused, not complied, buried and lost and despised. There is now rest and
surcease in Christ only, for only Christ has obeyed and fulfilled the Ten
Commandments. The coinage of work and duty has been all assembled and completed
by Jesus: “Who has redeemed me, a lost
and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from
the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious
blood and with His innocent suffering and death.” [SC pt 2] His Blood redeems lost silver. His Blood takes
all the tarnish of trespass away. His Blood removes the irritant of sinful
specks; of sand, dust and ash of original death, and turns the pearl into an
organic living jewel! IT IS
FINISHED. You the lost piece have been
found. The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church has found you for Christ
has called you by The Holy Ghost through the Gospel. The Church is that family
of Jesus where His Good News is spoken clearly and His Word attached to earthly
elements is carried out according to His establishing. The Good News of Jesus’
sacrificial work and loving substitutionary death is proclaimed at this pulpit
and this altar. The Holy woman, His spotless Bride, lights the candle which
means she preaches only Jesus, “Christ
crucified for the forgiveness of your sins!” The Church, His Body, sweeps
constantly, or to use the Galilean fishing analogy, throws out the nets
constantly. The sweeping is the broom of His words preached and shared by all
of his bristles tied together in the unity and bond of Truth.
You now as part of that Holy virgin Body
also diligently search and seek until you too have found all the lost coins
that the Lord wants found. They may not be shining American
gold-eagles…speaking perfect King’s English…but they are precious to God. Red
and yellow black and white they are precious in His sight.
Friends, neighbors, Augsburgers, all those
we desire to be with us, rejoice this morning with me and with the presence of
angels, archangels and all the company of heaven for there is joy—the joy of
Christ Jesus over repented sinners. The lost pieces are found. The lost pieces
have been assembled into a community chest; a heaven-on-earth treasure trove of
Peace…Peace In He Who is Peace.
In The Name of
The Father and of The + Son and of The Holy Ghost
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