The Offer Still Stands
Proper 18, Year C; Luke 15:1-10
Luke 15 opens with a dinner scene. Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners, while the Pharisees and scribes stand off to the side, grumbling. That’s the setting: two groups—those who draw near to dine with Jesus and those who murmur about it. And it’s not the first time we’ve seen this. Just one chapter earlier, Jesus was also at a meal, but then it was with Pharisees. He told them not to grasp for honor but to humble themselves, and not to invite only those who can repay, but to welcome the poor and the crippled. Now, in chapter 15, Jesus practices what He preached—welcoming sinners to His table. The humble are exalted, while the proud Pharisees mutter in complaint.
That word “grumble” should catch our ear. It echoes the wilderness generation in Exodus, who murmured against Moses after being saved from Egypt. They grumbled about water, and the Lord gave them water from the rock. They grumbled about food, and the Lord rained down manna from heaven. In other words, God answered their complaints with grace. So the question becomes: how will Jesus respond to these Pharisees who grumble at His fellowship with sinners?
Luke tells us with three parables of lostness—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. We usually read these as stories about wayward sinners coming home, and that is true. But consider this: Jesus describes something lost that was once possessed. A sheep from the flock. A coin that belonged in the woman’s treasury. A son of the father’s household. When had tax collectors and sinners ever belonged to the flock of Israel? More likely, the “lost” here are the Pharisees and scribes—the very ones grumbling. They are Israel’s shepherds gone astray, Israel’s coin hidden in the dark, Israel’s elder brothers outside the feast. And Jesus is showing them that, even in their rebellion, the offer of mercy still stands.
This changes the parable’s edge. It isn’t just about Jesus explaining why He dines with sinners. It’s about Him extending the same invitation to His enemies. To the very ones who plot against Him, Jesus says: If you repent, I will carry you on My shoulders like a shepherd with his sheep. If you turn, I will rejoice over you like a woman who has found her lost coin. If you humble yourself, I will welcome you into the Father’s feast. The parables are not only about the joy of repentant sinners—they are about the kindness of God to His critics.
And that is the point: the kindness of God leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4). Not harshness. Not violence. Kindness. That’s how God wins over rebels. And if heaven erupts in joy whenever one sinner repents, then every Sunday, when we confess our sins together, the angels celebrate once again. Repentance doesn’t just happen once. It is a way of life—constantly confessing, constantly being forgiven, constantly drawing near to feast with Jesus.
But the offer is not forever. The invitation to repentance and the feast is open now—but only now. “Behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). A day will come when Christ returns or when our own days are ended, and then the time for repentance is over. The offer that stands now will stand no more. Which is why urgency matters. Which is why the Church must never stop extending the same offer Jesus extends—even to enemies, critics, and the hardest of hearts.
The lesson is clear: the God we serve does not merely welcome the weak and broken; He even extends grace to His fiercest opponents. That’s why the Church must keep praying, keep offering, keep hoping. Because if Pharisees can repent, if enemies can repent, if you and I can repent—then heaven will never stop celebrating.
Peace be with you,
Pastor Bruce
