Sermon for Lent 4 Midweek Vespers

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Jesu Juva

“Icons of Repentance: The Sinful Forgiven Woman - The Fruit of Repentance”

Text: Hosea 6:1-6; 1 John 4:7-12, 17-19; Luke 7:36-50

 

In the Name of (+) Jesus. Amen.

The story we heard in the Holy Gospel today is often misinterpreted and misunderstood. 

When Jesus says: Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much, some interpret and understand that to mean that her sins are forgiven because she loved much. That her love was the cause of her forgiveness. First love, then forgiveness. And if you just read that verse by itself, out of context, it could mean that.

But within the context of the whole story, no. The parable Jesus told makes that perfectly clear. The one who has the larger debt cancelled, the one who is forgiven much, loves much. According to Jesus: Forgiveness first, then love. And Jesus told that parable because Simon the Pharisee was judging her. And Him. Simon the Pharisee knew her past. Simon the Pharisee knew her as a sinful woman. But Jesus knew her quite differently. To Him, she was not a sinful woman, but a forgiven woman. A woman who had been forgiven much and so now, as a result, was shedding tears of joy upon the feet of the one who had come to provide and accomplish that very forgiveness. Cast out by the world but welcomed by Jesus changed her. Her faith had saved her. And her love showed that salvation.

Her love was the fruit of her repentance and forgiveness. The fruit God desires. Forgiveness isn’t the end or goal of the Christian life, but its cause. It’s not what we’re working toward, it’s what we have received and are living from. Which makes this forgiven woman our fourth Icon of Repentance, as she shows us and teaches us the fruit of repentance.

Now, we aren’t told exactly what this woman had done that made her a known sinner, or as she is called, a woman of the city. But I can guess. And it is what makes the reading from the prophet Hosea tonight perfect - because really, it is the same story. 

Here’s how it goes: God told the prophet Hosea to marry a wife of whoredom (Hosea 1:2), a prostitute, as a living example of God’s relationship with Israel. For Israel was being an unfaithful wife to Him and committing spiritual adultery by worshiping false gods. And there are consequences for that. So God sent prophet after prophet to call Israel back, to call Israel to repentance, to faithfulness - Hosea was just the latest one. But they would not. Therefore, there would be a time of punishment and discipline for His people. But then God promised restoration. Though Israel was unfaithful to Him, the Lord remained faithful to her. And that is where our reading from Hosea for tonight picks up. With Hosea pleading with them . . . 

Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

There is the punishment and discipline, the tearing and striking down, which were to heal Israel, and to lead to their binding up; a promised restoration. Which Hosea then reveals further in this nugget: 

After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.

That’s the restoration God promises - and not just for Israel of old, but for the new Israel, the true Israel, the Church. For that restoration will happen on the third day - the day of Jesus’ death and His resurrection. After He - faithfully! - takes all of our sin and unfaithfulness upon Himself on the cross and atones for it. 

For notice the plurals . . . He will raise US up. Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t just for life for Himself, but for all people. And for this: that we may live before Him in righteousness and purity forever. A life that starts for us with our own death and resurrection in Baptism. When by water and the Word we are joined to Christ and die and rise with Him to live a new life. Which again means that forgiveness isn’t the end or goal of the Christian life - that once we’re forgiven we can relax and do nothing. No! Forgiveness is the cause, the source, of our Christian life. Which Hosea goes on to speak say . . .

He will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.

For what happens after rains come and water the earth? Growth! That’s God’s intention and why He sends the rains that water the earth. And why the water that comes down on us in Baptism. That we grow. That we live in Him and like Him more and more. Israel’s problem was that - as Hosea says - their love wasn’t growing from the rain, but disappearing like a morning cloud, like the morning mist, and drying up like the morning dew. And maybe that happens for us sometimes, too.

That’s why God sent the prophets like Hosea, to slay them with the words of their mouth. To call them to repentance, to turn from the way they were living to live the new life God gave to them. Producing the fruit of repentance, the good fruit of a new life. As Hosea then goes on to say:

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

That is, God doesn’t just want people going through the motions of sacrifice and burnt offerings - or today, perhaps we could say, just showing up in church. His desire for us is that we live in and from His steadfast love and in and from the knowledge of Him.

Now that word there, steadfast love, is an important word. In Hebrew, it is the word hesed. It’s kind of the Hebrew equivalent for the Greek word for love you may have heard of before: agape. Greek has a few different words for love, but agape love is God’s love; God’s selfless, self-sacrificing, all in, love. The “for God so loved the world” love. Jesus on the cross love. 

That’s the love God’s desires from us. But how in the world are we supposed to do that? Well, we can’t. Not on our own. No matter how you try, you can’t do that kind of love yourself. But you can if you first receive it from God. Then you can live it and give it to others. So we do. We first receive that love when we are baptized and are raised in forgiveness to a new life. But then continue to receive it in Absolution and the Gospel and the Supper. We begin to live a new life of love. Love toward God and love toward our neighbor. Love that is the fruit of repentance.

Which is what John also wrote of in the Epistle we heard tonight. Notice how he captures all of this so simply! Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God - that’s baptism! Our new birth by water and the Word. 

And what is that love? That steadfast love, agape love? John goes on to say: In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. That’s the “for God so loved the world” love. Jesus on the cross love. Given to give us new life in Him.

And then John caps it off: We love because he first loved us. So, Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

That is exactly what we heard in the Gospel. The once-sinful-but-now-forgiven woman did that, lived that love. What she received, she gave. Simon the Pharisee did not. He could not give what he had not received. She knew how great her debt, so she knew how great her forgiveness. And great forgiveness begets great love. Love that is the fruit of repentance. The fruit of the new resurrected life we have in Jesus. 

Now, we know how God manifested that love for us: in sending His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. So how is that steadfast love of the Lord to be manifested in your life? In the same way. In you laying down your life for others. As Paul says in Romans, as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). Laying down your life for your spouse and children, your friends and neighbors, your co-workers and classmates. They need that steadfast love just as you do. 

But if you find that you’re not doing that, that your love for others has failed, you’re not alone. You’re not the only one. A quick look around and that’s pretty obvious! But don’t be like Israel of old! Heed the call of God’s apostles, prophets, and pastors - repent of that, and receive the love and forgiveness you need. Fill your tank with His steadfast love, be renewed by Jesus, raised up and lifted up again by Jesus, and then you will have what you need for others. To live the life that God desires for you. 

Did you hear that? I’m going to repeat it just to make sure: the life God desire for you. Not just from you! But the life God desires for you. For the life of love and forgiveness you live isn’t just good for others, it’s good for you. It is the good life He has always desired and planned for you - a life of peace and joy. 

And so our fourth Icon of Repentance: the forgiven woman and the fruit of repentance. This woman who shows us how to live. Who shows us there is no debt too great for Jesus’ forgiveness. And that the greater the forgiveness, the greater the love.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

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Jesu Juva

“More Than Meets the Eye”

Text: John 9:1-41; Ephesians 5:8-14; Isaiah 42:14-21

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

The readings that we heard today are all about seeing. So I would like to consider that a bit today. How we see. How we look at things.

First, as an adult, I can look at something and see a piece of junk. However, a child may look at the very same thing and see a treasure. And in the same way, there may be something that I, as a adult, see as a treasure, which a child looks at and sees a piece of junk. What’s the difference? Not the thing, but our worldview. Learning and growing up means seeing things from a different perspective.

Another thing about seeing: sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s hard. At night, for example, seeing is hard, and though you think you see something, when the light goes on, you realize it wasn’t what you thought at all.

 

Or think of microscopes and telescopes. Perhaps you look at something and think you can see it and judge it pretty well and have a good idea of what it is, but then when you look at that same thing through a microscope or a telescope, you see something completely different! And you realize it wasn’t what you thought at all.

I guess you could say there is more to seeing than meets the eye. A lot more.

 

So it was in the Holy Gospel we heard today. There was a lot of seeing going on, but not a few different perspectives.

 

First there was the man who had been born blind. You could say he saw nothing. But that would be only physically. He did see, in a sense. For as seeing is more than meets the eye, he saw the world as a judging and condemning place. A place that thought that either he or his parents had so grievously sinned that his blindness was the punishment of God upon him. And so he was seen by the world as someone who was of little worth and under a curse. Even after he was given his sight by Jesus, he couldn’t do anything right, he couldn’t say anything right. He was a misfit and an outcast. Much like the Samaritan woman we heard about last week.

 

There are people seen that way today as well. People who are handicapped, or elderly, are often seen as of little worth. Babies are sometimes seen as treasures, and sometimes seen as junk to be gotten rid of. How often do we see other people as nuisances, rather than gifts from God? Some things never change . . .

Then there was Jesus - how was He seen? His disciples called Him Rabbi and confessed Him as the Christ, but they really didn’t know what that meant yet. The Pharisees saw Jesus as a rule breaker and a sinner, someone who did not fit their conception of God and the way someone of God should be. They saw Jesus as a threat. Then there was the blind man, who was just learning how to see, in every sense of the word! He was physically learning how to see in the world, and he was spiritually learning how to see Jesus.

 

He reminds me of a baby on his first day of life, being held by his father or mother in the hospital and just staring, seeing for the first time; learning how to see . . .

So, how do people see Jesus today? Well, much the same now as then. Some see Him as an example, some as a prophet or great teacher, some confess Him as Christ and yet don’t really know what that means. Some see Him as a threat to how they want to live their lives, and some are like the Pharisees - who saw so much they became blind. They weren’t bad guys, the Pharisees. They were good people who knew their Bibles inside and out. But they so much saw the sin in others that they became blind to the sin in themselves. They stared so long and hard at their own piety that they became blind to the good in others. They knew the words of their Bibles so much that they forgot what those words meant! They had become so blind, in fact, that they couldn’t see the fulfillment of all the Scriptures standing right before their faces! They are a caution to folks like you and me today.

But the most important eyes in the story today are the eyes of Jesus. How did He see others? A bit differently than all that! For He saw not with merely human eyes, but with the eyes of compassion and mercy, to do the works of God. He sees His perfect creation marred and disfigured and in need of restoration. He sees darkened minds which need the light of His truth. He sees outcasts in need of welcome, and the frightened in need of comfort. He sees those who claim to be holy but aren’t, but who are in need of repentance. He sees sinners in need of forgiveness. And He sees rightly. His seeing - in all the ways one sees - is perfect. And to provide what is needed is the work of God He has come to do.

And that is how Jesus sees you - in all of the above ways. For He doesn’t see the you you want others to see - He sees through that, and sees rightly. So its not the successful you, the strong you, the brave you, the “It’s all good” you - how you act for everyone else. He sees rightly and clearly the frightened you, the weak you, the “I don’t know how I’m going to get through this” you, the ashamed you, the sinful you. The you who is just like that man born blind, who everyone else is talking about and judging. The you who others - and maybe even you yourself! - look at and see junk, but whom Jesus looks at and sees a treasure.

 

Like the blind man. Nobody else cared about him, except as an object of conversation. But Jesus did. And notice - the man didn’t even ask for healing! He was beyond hope. As he told the Pharisees: Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. You know, I wonder if he even knew what was going on. At first, at least. The day had started like every other day. He was begging by the side of the road. Then this man, who he knew only as “the man called Jesus” rubs mud on his eyes and tell him to go wash it off. And he is given sight. Physical sight, and then also spiritual sight. By water and the Word of this One who has come to do the works of God.

 

And again, I am reminded of babies - the babies we bring here to baptism. They start the day like every other day of their young lives. They don’t ask Jesus for anything. They don’t even know what’s going on when the Word of God hits their ears and that cold water descends upon their head! But by water and the Word of God, the work of God is done. They receive the eyes of faith and the forgiveness of all their sins, and though their mouths cannot yet form the words, their hearts cry out with us: “Lord, I believe.” For surely a man who can open the eyes of a man born blind can do this as well.

And He does. He has. For that’s exactly what Jesus has for you. For you, too, were born blind - no, even worse! - dead in your trespasses and sins, the Bible tells us (Ephesians 2). But the work of God was done in you, too, through water and the Word, to raise you from the death of sin and give you faith and forgiveness, that you may be children of light. Walking by faith. Fixing your eyes on Jesus (Gradual).

And now seeing Jesus rightly. As Saviour. As Giver. As the One who has come to do the works of God for you, in you, and through you. And still is.

 

And again, like the man once blind, though we can see, yet still we are learning to see. To see more and more. Staring with eyes of faith at the amazing things of God and learning of Him. Staring at the manger, at our God born so little for us. Staring at the cross, at our God who laid down His life for us to atone for our sins. Staring at the empty tomb, at our God who rose for us, breaking the bonds of death and the grave to give us life. Staring at these amazing things with our eyes of faith, and drinking them in. Believing, yet always learning, too, what these things mean for us; of the great love of God for us.

And seeing Jesus rightly, then learning to see others differently, too. As our heavenly Father sees them. As our heavenly Father sees you. Not as junk, but as treasures. As worth our time. As worth our lives. As worth our love. 

And so does your heavenly Father love you. Maybe the baby analogy can help us here again . . . for while a newborn is staring up at her father and mother, father and mother are not only staring back, but speaking. Comforting, already teaching, so their child will know their voice. 

And that’s what our heavenly Father does. For the voice of God, the Word of God, is none other than Jesus Himself, who comforts and teaches us. So that we know Him; that we know His voice and fear not. So He speaks. By His Word He teaches us about what we are seeing of Him, His great love and all that He has done for us. By His Word He teaches us about ourselves and our sin and to repent. By His Word He speaks His absolution, comforting us with the forgiveness of our sins. And by His Word He feeds us - first with the pure spiritual milk of His Word, and then also with the meat of His Body and Blood. That the life He has given be well nourished and grow, healthy and strong in His forgiveness. That the life He has given live forever.

That day in Jerusalem, that work of God was done in that blind man’s life. In not too many days from then, that work of God was done for the world, as Jesus ascended the cross to give His life as the Lamb of God, a ransom for the sin of the world. And this morning, that work of God is done here, through water and word and bread and wine. And yet, in Jerusalem, Calvary, and here, these are not all different works of God, but one and the same work of God, accomplished by the same God made flesh for us. That we who were blind may see Jesus, and learn to see Him rightly: as your giving God; your Saviour. So come, O children of God. Come, let us fix our eyes on Jesus.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Congregation at Prayer

For the Week of Lent 4 (March 16-21, 2026)

Invocation: In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Speak the Apostles’ Creed. 

Verse: Romans 8:1 – “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Hymn of the Week:  Lutheran Service Book #430 “My Song Is Love Unknown”

Hymns for Sunday: 423, 422, 430, 618, 552 (vs. 9-10, tune: 754), 687, 420

Readings for the Week: [The readings for Thursday-Saturday are the Scriptures for this coming Sunday.]

Monday: Psalm 130

From what depths have you cried to the Lord? What is your hope? What promises of the Lord give you that hope?

Tuesday: John 8:42-59

Why is the truth of God’s Word sometimes rejected? What if we don’t like it? What if it doesn’t seem reasonable or in step with the world? Should we judge the Word or should it judge us?

Wednesday: Matthew 2:13-25, 19-23

Commemoration of St. Joseph, Guardian of Jesus. Where was Joseph told to go? Do you think that was easy? What can help us do what is asked of us, even when it is hard?

Thursday: Ezekiel 37:1–14

Cemeteries are places of dry bones for us today. Can all those bones live? What would Ezekiel say? How does Jesus’ resurrection give us hope that they can? And will?

Friday: Romans 8:1-11

Why is there now no condemnation for us sinners? Who was condemned for us? Does this change how we now live? Why?

Saturday: John 11:1-53

Why did Jesus delay going to see Lazarus? Did that stop Him from helping him? Did Mary and Martha think so? What if Jesus delays helping us? Is anything too great for Jesus to overcome?

The Catechism - The Ten Commandments: The Seventh Commandment: You shall not steal. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that do not take our neighbor’s money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.

Collect for the Week: Almighty God, by Your great goodness mercifully look upon Your people that we may be governed and preserved evermore in body and soul; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.

The Prayers:  Please pray for . . .

+ yourself and for all in need (remembering especially those on our prayer list).

+ God’s blessing, wisdom, and guidance for our congregational vice president, Rob Douthwaite.

+ the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, for God’s wisdom, blessing, guidance, and provision.

+ God’s blessing, guidance, wisdom, and provision for Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis, MO.

Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer and Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer from the Catechism.

Now joyfully go about your day (or to bed) in good cheer, child of God!

Collect for the Week © 2018 Concordia Publishing House.

Lutheran Service Book Hymn License: 110019268