Month: September 2025

I. What We Know, and What We Don’t, about the Rich Man and Lazarus

Here’s what we know about the rich man and Lazarus. In this life, the rich man is very rich. He wears fine linen dyed with that expensive purple dye. He doesn’t just have a feast now and then, but he feasts sumptuously every day. Lazarus, on the other hand, is poor in wealth, health and dignity. He lays at the rich man’s gate, a mess of open sores licked by dogs, desiring just a few crumbs from the table.

Here’s what we know about the death of the rich man and Lazarus. The beggar dies and is carried off to Abraham’s bosom, raised to eternal life in heaven. The rich man dies and finds himself in the torments of hell. Lazarus is in heaven because, by faith, he confesses his sin and trusts in the promised Savior; we deduce this because that is the only way anyone is delivered to heaven. However, look at the rich man in his torment, still suffering for the sins which led him there. So, what were those sins?
First, the rich man apparently believed in salvation by comfort. In other words, it seems that he believed that God must favor him because of his prosperity. Even in hell, he is still preoccupied with his own comfort. Tormented by the flames of hell, he asks Abraham to send Lazarus over with a drink of water; rather than repent of his selfishness and self-righteousness, he still expects someone to come and serve him.

Second, the rich man appears to believe in salvation by label. He calls Abraham “Father Abraham.” It would seem that he shares the same bad thinking of the Pharisees, who declared to Jesus, “We have Abraham as our father” (Jn. 8:39; cf. Lk. 3:8), believing God loved them because of their bloodline. Faith didn’t matter; genetics did. For the rich man, whatever he believes doesn’t matter; he believes Abraham will help him—even in hell—because he wears the label, “descendant of Abraham.”

Third, the rich man believes in salvation by wonders, not God’s Word. Although he still shows no repentance for his own sin, the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent to testify to his five brothers still alive, so that they may avoid the torments of hell. Abraham declares that such isn’t necessary because the brothers have Moses and the prophets—they have the Word. But this isn’t good enough for the rich man. He doesn’t believe that God’s Word will give faith; rather, he believes that the miraculous return of a dead man will convince his brothers to believe. To this, Abraham replies, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”

Abraham isn’t really talking about the resurrection of Lazarus, but the resurrection of Jesus. Even when He rises from the dead three days after the crucifixion, his enemies still refuse to believe. Because they have rejected the Word of God, they also reject the Word made flesh.

Here’s what we don’t know about the rich man. We don’t know about his popularity or generosity. Because he ends up in hell, we’re always tempted to see him as an arrogant money-grubber who hoards every dime and makes Scrooge look like a nice guy, but that is something that we bring to the text; it is not something that the Bible tells us. Keep in mind that Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees, and He may well be painting a picture of a man very similar to them. It could well be that he’s a warm and popular man who donates money to all sorts of charitable causes. It could be that, when he fares sumptuously every day, that people are clamoring to join him—not because they’re hoping for a handout, but just because they want to be around such a warm and friendly guy. We simply don’t know what the man is like.

Likewise, we don’t know about the character of Lazarus. Again, because he ends up in heaven, we are tempted to picture him as the beggar with the golden heart, a well-meaning man who is unjustly reduced to rags; and again, this is something that we bring to the text, not what the Bible says. Lazarus may be a beggar because he did some terrible things in his past, and only lately learned repentance. He may be a disagreeable character who struggles with bitterness and anger every day—but who understands his sin and confesses it.

Please beware! Too often, this parable is misinterpreted to mean that rich snobs are condemned, while nice poor people go to heaven. But it could be that the nice rich man went to hell while the annoying beggar went to heaven. But it’s not about being nice. It’s about repentance and faith. Because Lazarus is forgiven, the Lord knows his name and he lies in the bosom of Abraham. Because the rich man is not forgiven, he is condemned eternally; and as a chilling reminder, we never find out his name because the Lord doesn’t know him. Therefore, we do well to take heed and avoid the sins of the rich man which prevented his faith and repentance.

II. Lessons from the Parable
Remember the three sins of the rich man: salvation by comfort, salvation by label, and salvation by wonders. All three of these sins have a common theme: each was designed to reject the Word of God. Because the rich man measured God’s favor by his comfort, clothes and food, he did not listen to the Word about his lack of true riches—faith and salvation. Because he was a descendant of Abraham, he saw no need to believe the Word that Abraham believed. And when Abraham told him that the Scriptures (the Law and the Prophets) could save his brothers, the rich man wanted a miraculous sign instead. All three sins resulted in his condemnation. All three sins seek your loss, too.

The last thing that the devil, the world and your own sinful flesh want you to do is to hear and believe the Scriptures. Therefore, they have devised some clever false gods to make you think you are confessing the truth, when you are not.

Like the rich man, you are tempted to the doctrine of “salvation by comfort,” to believe that comfort is a measure of faith. For instance, you are tempted to believe that God loves you if you are comfortable and God hates you if you are not. Beware of this cruel, damning belief. For one thing, it seeks to persuade you that you have no need for forgiveness if you are comfortable. Worse, sooner or later you will face the discomforting terror of approaching death; and if you believe that God’s love means you feel comfortable, then you will only conclude that God must have no love left for you when you are near death. That leaves you with only despair when you most need the assurance of the Lord’s love for you.

There’s another facet to the false god of comfort, for all false gods desire worship. Thus, your Old Adam or Old Eve will tempt you to say that worship is good when it makes you comfortable, when it fits your tastes and preferences; and worship is bad when it makes you uncomfortable. In our world of choices and preferences, this is a very real temptation. Or, a sermon is good if it makes you feel comfortable, bad if it makes you ill at ease; this means that you want to avoid that uncomfortable sorrow for your sin. So, the quality of worship is determined by how much you like it, not by whether or not Christ is there to give forgiveness, life and salvation.

Now, when it comes to worship, each one of us will have a preferred set of hymns that we like. Each one of us will wish that the service went a little, or a lot, differently. Each one of us will have a list of certain doctrines that we’d rather not talk or hear about, that make us ill at ease. These are different from person to person. Thus, if comfort is the goal, it will only divide because every one will have a different comfort level.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our confession and our worship are not established by what makes us feel comfortable. It is not determined by what will appeal to the youth or the unbelieving visitor. It is determined by the Word of God. It is established by His plan for our salvation. Because we are sinners, we will always be dissatisfied; and because we are sinners, God’s Word ought to make us uncomfortable—that’s what God’s Law is supposed to do. Rather than the false god of self-comfort levels, instead we rejoice that the Lord exposes our sin and grants us the true comfort of forgiveness in Christ.

Like the rich man, you’ll be tempted to believe in “salvation by label,” that your faith is fine because you are a descendant of Abraham. Well, maybe not Abraham. For you and me, the temptation is a variation on the theme, and it goes like this: “I am a Lutheran. Therefore, whatever I believe must be Lutheran; because I, a Lutheran, believe it.” A common corollary is, “And therefore, whatever any Lutheran believes or does must be okay, because it’s a Lutheran doing it.”

There are many examples: It’s tempting to believe that whatever any Lutheran preacher says must be true, and need not be verified by Scripture. It’s inviting to believe that whatever a Lutheran church convention approves by a majority must be in accord with the Word of God. It’s tempting to believe that any local custom of a Lutheran congregation must be acceptable. It’s tempting to believe that any song or devotional written by a Lutheran must be doctrinally solid. It’s tempting because it makes life so much easier; there’s less need to be vigilant, less chance of confrontation.

But the facts simply don’t support the idea. There are plenty of Lutherans out there who deny that Scripture is God’s authoritative Word, who condone abortion and homosexuality. There are Lutherans who deny that Jesus was born of a virgin, or that He rose from the dead. There are Lutherans who believe that the Holy Spirit works to save apart from the means of grace, and that the Sacraments are just sort of our own personal twist on Christianity. The label “Lutheran” gets claimed by all sorts of people these days.

Like the rich man, you’ll be tempted to “salvation by wonders,” the desire to look for God’s presence and help in what you see, not in what God says in His Word. Many will judge their faith, and the correctness of their church, by financial gain, numerical growth, health status, and other tangible measures. But once again, such signs are no proof of the Lord’s blessing and approval. There are plenty of people who are blessed abundantly by God with material things, and who still do not believe that Christ is risen from the dead.

Time and time again, this text warns us of sins that would distract us from God’s Word. It warns us not to trust in our comfort level, label, or what we see. It bids us to hear the Word of God and believe it, like the Law that we have heard thus far. It does this for your good, because all of these temptations will fail you, and the Word points you to your Savior who will not fail you. So hear His Gospel now.

Are you afflicted? Troubled? Worried? Sick? Most uncomfortable? Your Old Adam will use these things to convince you that God has no love for you. Your sinful nature will use your exhaustion, hurt and circumstances to say that the Lord is out to get you. But you don’t listen to Old Adam, your circumstances or your fatigue to know God’s will; instead, you listen to His Word. His Word tells you this: There is no way that God does not love you or is out to get you. Why? Because of Christ.

Out of love for you, your Savior was afflicted, beaten and troubled. He bore your sins, sicknesses and infirmities to the cross for you, in your place; there He died with them, taking them to the grave. There, at the cross, God poured out all of His wrath for all of your sin; and if God has poured out all of His wrath for all of your sin, then He has no more wrath to pour out upon you now. He has not run out of love for you, nor is He out to get you. Old Adam will do His best to get you to think so, but Old Adam wants you to share the same fate as the rich man in the parable.

Don’t learn about God from sinful thoughts and temptations. Learn about Him from His Word. Cling to His promises, all the more when you are afflicted, because there He promises, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Do you suffer for the name that you bear, for being a Christian? A Lutheran who takes doctrine seriously? The world has very little tolerance left for the saving Gospel that Christ has died for the sins of the world, and that the Holy Spirit works through the means of grace to deliver forgiveness and faith. If you cling to this Word, you will likely face scorn. You will likely be made to feel uncomfortable.
But again, you don’t get your identity from the world. Because the world rejects Christ and instead looks to endless torment, it will mock His people. It will seek to make you so uncomfortable to be a Christian that you decide you’d rather be worldly instead. So don’t listen to what the world calls you. Cling to the Word, and hear what Jesus calls you. He calls you His beloved child, for whom He has shed His blood and risen again. He calls you an heir of heaven, not a lake of fire. He’s placed His name on you in your baptism, and He will not let you go. You are not a
Christian because you say you are, like the rich man. No, far better: you are a Christian because Christ says you are.

This is a precious parable, because it seeks to deliver us from all things that would not save us. It bids you not to trust in riches or poverty, comfort, signs and wonders, labels, memberships or anything else for proof of God’s grace and love for you. Instead, it calls you back to that life-giving treasure of the Word of God. There, in and by His Word, the Lord gives you forgiveness and faith and eternal life. There, He declares the comforting news that your salvation is certain—because it is for Jesus’ sake, and only for Jesus’ sake, that you are forgiven for all of your sins. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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I. The Parable
I would like to begin by saying that if you think this parable is about the manager, you’re going to get it all wrong.

After all, what sorts of lessons are there to learn from the manager? For one thing, if you slack off or waste your boss’s goods, don’t get caught. If you do get caught, decide that you’re too proud to do anything menial for a living. Instead, use your boss’s business to gain friends by losing more of your boss’s money. Do any of these lessons sound like something you would want to teach your child? Are these three habits of highly effective people? Hardly.

This guy is the reason why, when someone gets fired, the security guard is right there to escort them straight to the door. This manager is the role model for the unrighteous sons of the world who know how to look out for themselves. No, if you think this parable is about the doings of an unrighteous manager, you’re in for a bumpy ride.

There is one thing to learn from the manager. There is one thing that the manager does that all of us ought to do; but we’ll get back to that later on. Right now, let’s get to what the parable is really about: the manager’s lord.

The manager’s lord is a just man who runs a good business, and he employs the manager to look after things. When he finds that the manager is wasting his goods, he tells the manager that he’s fired. He tells the him that the day of reckoning is coming for his abuses. That only makes sense, but here’s the part that doesn’t: the lord leaves the manager in charge of his business until that future day of reckoning. He certainly gets high marks for mercy, but business execs certainly aren’t going to approve of this one.

It’s almost like the lord wants the unrighteous manager to misuse his goods some more.

So, the lord waits to call his unrighteous manager to account and continues to give him access to everything, and, of course, the manager makes the most of it by taking the lord’s profits and giving them to others. He’s cutting bills in half so that clients only owe half as much, and he’s putting his lord in a box. If the lord goes back to his clients and demands what is really owed, his clients will be angry. If the lord lets the manager get away with his mischief, then his clients will love and trust the manager more, and that will be bad for the lord’s business.

How does it all end? The lord commends the unrighteous manager for taking his goods and giving them to others. Kind of a strange story from our Lord, isn’t it? This obviously isn’t a real-deal message about how to succeed in business. Nope. It’s not at all about profit-making and business management.

This is a parable about mercy.

II. The Meaning
Our English translations call the manager “dishonest” or “unjust.” The Greek says “unrighteous,” which tips us off that this is really a lesson about sin and forgiveness.

Your Lord has created you and all creatures. He has given you your body and soul, eyes, ears and all your members, your reason and all your senses, and still preserves them. That makes you the manager to whom the Lord has entrusted His “business” of loving Him and your neighbor.

You know what comes next: all that you are and do by nature is tainted by sin, and none of you or what you do is righteous before God. Your Lord gives you possessions with which to serve others, and instead you want more for yourself. The Lord gives you a mouth to sing His praise, but you put it to use for gossip, deceit or malice. The Lord gives health and fitness, and you’re tempted to vanity. You’re the unrighteous manager, wasting the things your Lord has entrusted to you. So, the Lord declares that the day of reckoning is coming. It’s only fair. It’s only just.

But your Lord isn’t only just. He’s also merciful, and here’s the part of the story that doesn’t get mentioned in the parable: The Lord has sent His Son to be your Savior. From conception on and throughout His life, He went about His Father’s business (Lk. 2:49). He kept God’s Law perfectly, fulfilling every requirement without sin. He loved His neighbor and served His Father in heaven. In other words, Jesus was the perfect manager as He went about His Father’s business. And then what?

He was crucified in your place. He was made to be sin for you, in order to suffer the judgment for your sin.

In other words, at the cross Jesus became the unrighteous manager of the whole world. Good Friday was the day of reckoning where the Lord condemned His Son for the sin of all His evil managers.

Then, on the third day, Christ is risen from the dead! And risen, He continues to be of service to you. In fact, since you are now His people by His grace, He entrusts you with His most precious treasures. He entrusts to His Church the means of grace by which sins are forgiven, salvation is bestowed and disciples are made.

He gives them to you, personally, that you might have life in His name. He has placed His name upon you in Holy Baptism, giving you His kingdom forever. He continues to speak His forgiving Word of Holy Absolution to you, to cleanse you of your sin. He gives you His body and blood in Holy Communion, to strengthen and preserve you in the one true faith unto life everlasting. By these means, He has brought you into His house and keeps you in His house. By these means, He strengthens your faith and sets you free to manage all that He has given you.

So now, as His gathered and forgiven managers, how do you do in your stewardship? Our Lord gives us a few statements against which to measure ourselves. He says, “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings”. Wealth—money—is unrighteous, unholy, because it has no forgiveness to give.

It’s only for this world. Do you make use of what you have in service to others, particularly for the spread of the Gospel so that others might be friends in an everlasting home of heaven for the sake of Jesus? Or do you find yourself hoarding it all, using what you have in service to you alone?

The Lord says, “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” (Lk. 16:11) How well do you make use of true, everlasting riches? Do you begin each day remembering your Baptism, giving thanks to the Lord that you have already died the second death and have eternal life? Or do you regard it as just a point of history that has little relevance to you now? Do you eagerly hear the Absolution, knowing that it is only by the Lord’s forgiveness that you have the hope of salvation? Perhaps. Or perhaps you regard His grace as a safety net, as you decide which sins will be useful to you in the coming week. Or perhaps you think that you’ve heard enough of forgiveness to last a while, and no longer desire to hear about the Lord’s love for you.

Do you take the time to prepare for the Lord’s Supper, marveling that the Lord God of Hosts visits you, to serve you, to give you His very own body and blood? Do you take seriously the truth that those who are unprepared will receive this Communion to their judgment, or do you set aside that Word of God for the sake of appearing more agreeable to the world?

Among us and all the world, there is no one righteous—not even one. We are far from faithful stewards of what our Lord entrusts to us. And sadly, we are probably more careful with gifts like unrighteous wealth than we are with the Word and Sacraments that bestow righteousness and life.

Even now, as the baptized people of God, you and I are still unrighteous stewards who waste what our Lord commends to our use. The day of reckoning is still deserved.

But once again, look how our merciful Lord treats us. Although we often take His means of grace for granted and treat them shabbily, He does not relieve us of our stewardship. From now until the Last Day of reckoning, He keeps us as His stewards. He wills that we continue to make use of His means of grace, so that through them He might forgive us for the sake of Jesus. Furthermore, He wills that we use them to erase (completely—not just half!) the debt of others. As we encounter sinners who are burdened with a load of killing sin, we do not tell them that Jesus came to erase half the debt of sin and it’s up to them to pay the rest.

No, we proclaim to them God’s Word. We tell them that Christ has died for all of their sins—not half, not most, but all. We give our Lord’s grace out to all who will receive it. Does our Lord grow angry that we give out His grace so freely? Not at all! He commends this as the mission of the Church. “Freely you have received,” He declares; “freely give” (Mt. 10:8).

How abundant and excessive is the Lord’s mercy for you! Because His Law demanded a level of righteousness you could never attain, He became flesh, gave the accounting and suffered the judgment for your sin. So that you might be forgiven, He continues to pour out His grace upon you by His Word and Sacrament, proclaiming you righteous for His sake—by His work, not your own.

His work, not your own. I mentioned a while back that, while this parable is about the lord and his mercy, there is one thing for us to learn from the steward. Here it is: the steward’s entire scheme rested on his lord’s mercy. If the lord was not merciful, he would have the steward thrown out right away, imprisoned or killed for using his goods to his own advantage; but the steward used the lord’s things to make friends, trusting that the lord would commend, not punish, him. By the grace of God, we trust in the Lord’s mercy. We confess our sin and unrighteousness to Him, trusting that He who gave His own life to redeem us will continue to save us now. And so He does. Your Lord commends you today with these words, “You are saved by My mercy this day, because Christ has accounted for
your sin at the cross. So, once again, I declare you righteous, because you are forgiven for all of you sins.” In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Dear fellows redeemed in Christ,

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Dear fellow members of Christ’s flock,

I want you to try to understand the events of this text from my point of view. It all began when I just sort of wandered away without making any sort of decision to do so. It was all gradual as I strayed a few steps from the rest of the flock – munching on grass here and noticing a bit of juicy grass over there. At first I noticed that the others were congregating together a ways away from me, but I knew that I had not really separated myself from them. I could always go back at any time. The Good Shepherd didn’t need to worry about me. I could handle it.

Then I got further occupied with myself and my thoughts, my pleasures and my priorities, my plans and my purposes. Of course, that takes time and concentration and effort — time away from where I had once been with all those other sheep and with the Good Shepherd (though at the time, I hardly thought Him to be good. Actually, the longer I stayed away and the farther I strayed, the more He seemed to be a Master Rule-Maker and Mr. Fun-Spoiler). Anyway, my activities and pursuits also took concentration away from what I had once been hearing from that Big Boss Man and what the other sheep heard, believed and did. It also took effort. I worked at being a sheep with my own agenda.

Long hours were spent working my way from one field to the next, over the hills and through valleys. And while I could no longer see the congregation from where I was, I knew the general direction and was convinced I could find my way back any time I wanted.

Then came my day of trouble. As you know, such a day comes for all sheep and in that, I am no exception. For a sheep, it could have been an attack by a predator walking about seeking someone to devour – the vicious beast that stalks in secret or the wolf in sheep’s clothing who casually walks up and traps. It might have been sheep’s disease … an inherited physical condition that results in a slow deterioration with many hurts, pains, suffering, and departure from this world, or it may be an unannounced, sudden, instant death. As you might imagine, it can be quite scary. There is also Mad Sheep’s Disease … a mental or emotional state that immobilizes the thought processes and saps the soul of hope and peace.

Anyway, as I said, my day of trouble came and along with it, pain, sorrow, anguish and fear that I never knew existed. I was easy prey for anyone and about to be devoured. Oh, I recalled the congregation and the Shepherd, but had no idea where they were … no knowledge of where I might go, if indeed, I could move from my spot in the valley of the shadow of death. I was lost … absolutely lost. All I could do was bleat like a lost sheep.

My only hope was to be found. But think about it. Why would anyone find me? Why would anyone look for me? Who would go out and sacrifice the time and the effort to make a search for a lost sheep who carelessly, thoughtlessly and purposely wandered away, and who would care enough for me to seek me in this land of thorns and thistles? In my state of mind at the time, I could only think of one who could find me … the one I used to know as the Good Shepherd. But why would He seek me?

I thought there could be only one reason … vengeance – to spy me out, to find me and to make me pay for what I had done. He would really let me know what my day of trouble was all about.

So, when I saw Him come over the rise and into the same valley of death that I was in, I was filled with horrid fear once again. I sought to hide from Him as did the first sheep, the one named Adam, who covered his shame with an apron of leaves and hid in Paradise when he heard the footsteps approaching him. But the Master knew where to look and there was no hiding from Him. He found me, walked to me, bent way down to me, and to my amazement, said, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name; you are Mine.”

He had not come to me as the Rule-Maker, but as the Law-Fulfiller. This was the Good Shepherd Who came in grace and truth to bind up the broken-hearted and to grant release to those held captive. His nail-pierced hands lifted me up from a certain death and hoisted me high into the air. In a resurrection that, at the same time crushed and enlivened me, He shouldered me, rejoiced and set off to return me to the others in the flock. He bore me and in doing so, bore all my burdens as well, just as one might shoulder the burden of a cross. I understood that I had been restored to Him and He rejoiced in that restoration.

But there was more. As I rode on the Big Man’s broad shoulders it was, I’ll admit, more than a bit scary. He was tall and it was a long way to the ground below. If He had dropped me, I would have most certainly have died, being dashed upon the jagged rocks below. However, His deep voice assured me, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.”

I must tell you it was a breath-taking ride. I was also scared because I wondered what the other sheep would think of me, what they might say to me, how they would treat me, and whether or not I would be accepted into the flock once more. As we drew near the congregating flock, they all turned to us… their eyes focusing on me and on the Good Shepherd Who was carrying me back home. The Master spoke to His congregation: “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.” To my further amazement, they rejoiced at my return with the voices of angels and archangels and all the company of heaven joined in the joyful refrain.

Dear people of God, Jesus declares, “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.” Now that may indeed be an account of your life with God and that you are here in His Church once more after having been shouldered by the Lord who, with rejoicing of His own and that of the congregation, restores the lost to Himself and His Church. If so, it should move you to give hearty and humble thanks to God for His undeserved grace. It should also give you hope that those family members of yours who have wandered away from the Lord still have time to repent, believe and be restored to the Lord and His Church. That is the oft-repeated story of Lost and Found: In The World. That’s also the first part of the sermon.

But perhaps you are one of those blessed people who have never wandered away from the Lord God and His Church. It might be that this church building, or one very much like it, has always been the House of God where you have been raised in the faith. Have you always been here in this House? If so, then perhaps yours is the story of … Lost and Found: In the Church.

Jesus tells of a loss that occurred, not out in the wilderness of the world, but a loss in a house. A woman has ten valuable coins … each one quite precious to her. However, in the shades and shadows of the house, one coin is lost … a member of the whole group has become lost in the house. Though still in the church, one member is lost. In order to find the precious lost, the woman lights a lamp. The light from the lamp, just like the light from the Word of God, is needed in order to find the lost one.

The light of God’s Word works in two ways … first to expose the sinner and the sin. We call that the second use of the Law, to serve as a mirror to show us our sin … to convict and to convince the one lost in church that he or she is a sinner, has been separated from the one, holy, Christian Church, and if left in that condition, would be lost forever. The other way that the Lamp of God’s Word works is as a gracious purging … a cleansing that removes our sin from us as far as the east is from the west. This is the Good News that the Lord our God wants everyone to hear about in the world and everyone to hear again and again in His Church.

Even though you may have been a faithful church member all your life, you still need to hear this two-fold message of God’s Word. Your sins condemn you. You hear the message that you have become lost by your own disobedience and self-centered living. And you know it’s true. But you also hear the cleansing and forgiving message of the Gospel – that you have been found by a Savior who has suffered and died for those very sins that separated you from God!

Yes, the woman, in the midst of her search in the house, found the lost coin. As a result, she calls for her friends and neighbors to congregate in her house. When they do, she invites them to join her in the day of gladness. She says, “rejoice with me, because I have found the coin that I lost!”

And following His telling of this story, Jesus declares, In the same way, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Our Lord’s actions and practice were completely consistent with the truth that He taught, and the confession that He declared. In doing so, tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him. Jesus did not turn them away. While they rejoiced in being at table with the Lord God, the legalists who had the Word in their possession and who were the leaders in the Church grumbled. The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”

And you know what, dear people? The Pharisees and the scribes were right! They were absolutely correct in what they had declared. This Jesus receives sinners and eats with us. By the working of the Holy Spirit through the Word, we have been invited and drawn near to believe, teach and confess that the King of kings and the Lord of lords receives sinners and eats with us. This the one Gospel that can truly be called “good news”.

So may the God of peace, Who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the Blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to Whom be glory for ever and ever. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Dear Friends in Jesus,

Consider the cost. One of the important tasks of parents is helping their children understand how to budget and plan financially for the future. As children begin to receive an allowance or earn money through their odd jobs, they quite naturally want to spend what they have earned on junk food or sparkly trinkets.

As they mature and secure more permanent jobs, the desire for more costly items grows stronger – TVs, computers, audio systems, automobiles, etc. A parent’s work continues to guide their child to consider the cost of such items and whether or not the child has the financial resources to pay the price.

In this week’s Gospel Jesus reminds us of the importance of considering the cost of any venture we are about to undertake. Does the builder of a tower have the resources to complete the job? Does a king going to war have enough forces to meet an enemy? (Luke 14:25-33)

Great multitudes began to follow Jesus and they went where He went. One day He turned to them and spoke to them about what it would take and mean to be one of His disciples. Please listen to Jesus’ words in the Gospel Reading and …… “Consider the Cost”

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it — lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

Now there might be someone who thinks that it is always so easy to give such advice to the other guy … so simple to tell the other guy to consider the cost. And that someone might be thinking that this is especially true for God; that it is easy for God to give advice and not get involved. After all, God can make a tower out of nothing in the twinkling of an eye; and besides that, there isn’t an army that could withstand the LORD for even an inkling of a second. Such thinking is sinful and wrong – sinful because it is a doubt and denial of God’s mercy – wrong because it is contrary to what has already taken place, that is, it is contrary to the gracious Good News.

For God has considered the cost. From eternity He looked upon this fallen world and knew that He would have to send His Son to be the Redeemer for “the LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:1-3). Thus, the Savior could not be someone conceived by man and born of woman. Consider the cost, for someone else would have to pay the price. But the Savior could not be an angel, for angels are spirit and not flesh and blood, and as Scripture says: “without the shedding of blood there is no remission” of sins. (Heb. 9:22) The Sacrifice could not be from an animal “for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Heb. 10:4).

So, who would be the Savior? And considering the cost, who could be the Savior? Listen to a portion of the Revelation to the Apostle John:
“And I saw in the right hand of Him Who sat on the Throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?’ And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals'” (Rev. 5:1-5).

God considered the cost and sent His Son Who was Incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary.

Consider Jesus … truly Divine to be a sufficient Sacrifice which it was even from eternity, and truly human in order to be under the Law and shed His holy Blood which it was in time. Jesus left His Father’s right hand and was born in this world. For the redemption of the world, He left behind His brothers and sisters, and would not let His disciples deter Him. When Peter sought to lead an army against Jesus’ enemies, our Lord told Peter to put away his sword and further told him: “Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53). Jesus considered the cost and left behind a heavenly host and a handful of disciples in order to be taken captive by Roman soldiers and Temple guards. “Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him” (John 18:12).

Jesus left His mother in the hands of John and bore the sins of the world. He is nailed to a beam which is fastened on a narrow, wooden column with its base in the foundation of the world. Jesus is crucified and it appears to the world as if He had not considered the cost. It seemed as if, despite His best intentions and His greatest effort, this Man began to build the Kingdom of God and was not able to finish. He intended to be the Savior but He doesn’t look much like He is going to make it. “And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, ‘If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself” (Luke 23:36). But this is not the way it was to be. When Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30) the atonement of all sins of all people was accomplished. If you will, the temple is finished and the war is won.

The multitudes who heard Jesus speak that day are no longer there at the Place of the Skull. They stopped following Him when they considered the cost. A few are there. There always are. Mary, John, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea and some women standing at a distance are all that is left.

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. … So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

So, what does this mean? First, think on what hating family and even life doesn’t mean, and what bearing your cross doesn’t mean. Being a disciple doesn’t mean that you may leave off fulfilling your vocation as father, mother, wife, child, brother, sister, member of the community, student, employee or whatever, anymore than it means having permission to taking your own life, which is to commit suicide. That would be leaving something that you are not permitted to leave behind.

Likewise, being a disciple doesn’t mean you bearing your own cross of sin, for Christ has already done that. That would be taking on the burden of sin that has been taken from you.

So, what does this mean? Hating family involves the First Commandment … “I am the LORD your God … you shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:2-3). This means that we should fear, love and trust in God above all things … even above your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters. Hating your life means remaining faithful to the LORD your God even if it means dying. As Luther wrote in his hymn: “And take they our life, goods, fame, child and wife; let these all be gone; they yet have nothing won, the Kingdom ours remaineth!”

Being a disciple involves bearing your cross and following Jesus. You do this when you rise every morning and recall that in your Baptism you were crucified with Christ and you bear on your brow the seal of Him Who died for you and rose again. You bear your cross when you drag yourself to the Altar and partake of the Feast of Victory from our God at His Table. Your cross is the yoke of forgiveness you bear with you as you hear the cleansing Word of the Absolution and depart in peace following the Benediction.

Listen to Jesus, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

In the Divine Service … yes, in the Liturgy of the LORD … you are able to join the choir of angels and archangels and the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders and the entire company of heaven in saying:
“Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev. 5:12)

Truly, because you are forgiven in the Name of the Father and the (+) Son and the Holy Spirit, you are able to bear your cross and follow Jesus until that day when you also will hear and say, “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him Who sits on the Throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” (Rev. 5:13). Amen.

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