( Sermon Luke 15,1 10 ) [ Deutsch Predigt ] [ Afrikaanse Vertaling ] [ Announcements (German)390.31 KB ]
1. Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.
2. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."
3. So he told them this parable:
4. "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?
5. When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.
6. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and 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, each worth about a day's wage for a laborer, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
9. 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 in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
Dear Congregation!
How do you react if you lose something important to you?
When I lost my little wallet and diary, I searched and searched, Icould not find it. I almost cancelled my credit card, and envisaged going to apply for a driver's license and ID card and.... I searched and hoped-but in the end, I gave up. Then, suddenly, there it was. Half of my life was back. I was overjoyed.
My family once had an aunt, who was in concentration camps in Russia for fifteen years. They waited and waited. They wrote letters to the red cross, the missions, the embassies... No answer. No word. So many people had died. They felt almost compelled to think my aunt was one of the dead. They were on the point of losing hope. But then, one Christmas eve, she knocked on the door. What joy! It was the greatest Christmas gift ever.
This is the joy God experiences when someone returns to him. When a human who was estranged, lost –a sinner returns to God, God does not ask: Where have you been? Why are you sodirty? Get clean first, then come. No, he is overjoyed,and he welcomes you with open arms.
But -God does not wait. He goes out and searches. No one turns to God before God has found him. If you feel lost, far away from God -God actually is tracking you. He is right behind you, trying to convince you to turn around. He follows his sheep through thick and thin. No thorns, no stones, no valleys, nothing is too difficult. Because he loves his sheep so much. He looks through every ravine, climbs down steep gullies, searches through thorny patches –where is the sheep I care for.
The woman looking for the coin turns the whole house upside down and inside out. She cleans all the dust and looks through all the dirt and ashes. She turns out all the drawers, looks through the boxes. She even looks into the pots and the storage jars in the kitchen. She gets dirty herself, in order to find the coin.
God does not shrink from suffering or weariness, from work or tiredness or dirt to find you. Because he loves you.
God does not give up. He does not say: This sheep is always running away. Let it go and do what it wants. I’m tired of running after it.
We do get tired. We say: It’s their choice, they need to live with the consequences. I’ve too much to do to run after people who don’t care about church or God. We try to counsel, but then, if people don’t want to listen, we say: I give up. Let them goas they please. They are difficult anyhow. We humans sometimes give up.
God never gives up. God never loses hope or stops loving. Whatever you have done, you may know: God is still looking for you. You are precious to him. And when God finds you and brings you back into his fold, he celebrates. He is overjoyed.
In the two parables we have heard, the story always ends with a community called together to celebrate.
God is looking for people who have lost their way, who have lost their connection with the family of God. Are we part of his efforts to look for, to search, to bring back those who went astray?
How do we react to people who come back into God’s flock? Do we celebrate with the angels? Or are we like the Pharisees who tried to keep people out?
Are our services such that people feel in them the welcome of God, never mind where they come from or whether they are Lutheran or agnostic or charismatic or whatever: Are our services a sign of God’s joy and welcome?
God wants to use us to bring people back to him. He wants his love to shine in our lives. He wants us to join in his care.
Pray for people who are away from God. Show them God’s love. Invite them to come back. And maybe you can help to search for the lost.
Is there someone you know who has stopped participating in services –presence or online -regularly? Cold you phone that person and ask,“How are you?”? Not to accuse them, but to see if they need support.
In your area –are there people who need the Gospel of God'slove? Should we as congregation reach out more to those who are around us -our neighbours, our fellow humans? What can we do to become agents of the God who searches?
What does it mean to turn around and come back to God?
It means to know that God is the one from whom my life comes, and to trust him.
We sometimes tend to expect life from other sources: Parties, money, power.
Coming to God means letting go of those other things.
We need to practice this: to trust God, and not to fret or be concerned too much about the other things.
May the peace of God be with you.
