Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Tuesday after the Seventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday

Posted on August 2, 2022 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: St. Luke 15:1-7 (NKJV)
 
15:1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying:
 
4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 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 which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”
 
Devotion
 
Once again Jesus’ free and forgiving association with sinners provokes the dissent of the “righteous,” the Pharisees and the scribes. This is the first of three parables Jesus relates in succession, in a divine effort to open the eyes of the dissenters to the wonder and glory of the history which is taking place before their eyes. It is the culmination of the Lord’s holy promises to seek and save the lost.
 
The parable of the lost sheep makes it plain: God is in Christ seeking His own; these sinners are His creatures, in whom He has an owner’s interest, for whose return He is willing to take trouble, at whose recovery He and all His angels have joy in heaven. The Lord’s question posed in the parable is simply this: when Jesus admits penitent sinners to table fellowship with Himself, shall there be murmuring on earth while heaven rejoices?
 
This is the time of grace, which is filled with His love and mercy. The “righteous” dare not misunderstand or refuse to receive it, for the next time the Lord’s promised Messiah comes it will be as Righteous Judge of all the Creation.
 
Prayer: O God, Whose never-failing Providence ordereth all things both in Heaven and Earth: we humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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