Sermon Tone Analysis

Title

Repentance and the Door of Love

Outline

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”

Or “God is a God of love” with the implication that he will not judge (in the negative sense of the term)

We recognize those things as a feature of our culture, including our church culture

They reduce “love” to warm, indulgent feelings

They forget that God is truth, righteousness, and light, which destroys evil on close contact

They also do not recognize that love requires freedom and that in making us able to love he has given us the freedom to jump fences and run off cliffs if we insist

But God does welcome the repentant

Isaiah makes it clear that repentant living is complex

It includes social justice: “If you remove the yoke from among you, the accusing finger, and malicious speech; if you lavish your food on the hungry ad satisfy the afflicted.”

But it also includes right worship or cultic rectitude: “If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, from following your own pursuits on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight.”

This is not either - or directives; it is both - and.

Jesus is both a good religious Jew and a prophet who cared for the outcasts of society.

He does not criticize the Pharisees for their keeping the Torah but for their not keeping the Torah.

Repent living both finds one in worship and finds one loving others.

It is indeed both - and.

We see this in Jesus’ interaction with Levi

We do not know that Levi cheated others, but we do know that he associated with the Roman government and its agents and exacted their customs duties.

He probably kept the customs office open on the Sabbath.

We do know that Jesus saw a man ready to repent and said, “Follow me!”

That he was ready is evident: “leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.”

The cost of becoming a disciple is everything, whether one is a Pharisee or a tax collector.

We do know that Levi invited his tax-collector and sinner friends to a banquet in Jesus’ honor.

It may have been just to honor Jesus and the guests were the only folk who would come, but it may have been to introduce those folk to Jesus - Levi became an evangelist (without knowing what one was)

Of course, Jesus was criticized by those schooled in the Torah, the Pharisees and scribes, for he had associated with Levi and his friends without restoring them to the community via Temple sacrifice.

Jesus, naturally, knew he could forgive sins, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.

I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Where the Pharisees healthy or did they only think that they were?

Levi’s friends knew they were sick and their whole society told them that they were sinners.

The Pharisees may have thought they were righteous and failed to get that in rejecting Jesus they rejected caring for the outcasts.

Levi’s crew was ready to repent as soon as someone opened the door of love.

Sisters, we can learn from these readings

We must care for those who are suffering, the outcasts of society, those in need, for all they need is the door of love opened and they will rush in.

That is demonstrating what the love of God looks like.

We must also live a life of proper worship and draw those we evangelize into that worship, for that is the purpose of creation and especially of human beings.

That is what love for God looks like.

Both are necessary, and if either is neglected those doing the neglect are on the outside of the door of love looking in rather than experiencing the love and righteousness of the Father through the Son mediated by the Holy Spirit.

Readings

FIRST READING

Isaiah 58:9b–14

9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,

you shall cry for help, and he will say: “Here I am!”

If you remove the yoke from among you,

the accusing finger, and malicious speech;

10 If you lavish your food on the hungry

and satisfy the afflicted;

Then your light shall rise in the darkness,

and your gloom shall become like midday;

11 Then the LORD will guide you always

and satisfy your thirst in parched places,

will give strength to your bones

And you shall be like a watered garden,

like a flowing spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people shall rebuild the ancient ruins;

the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;

“Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you,

“Restorer of ruined dwellings.”

13 If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,

from following your own pursuits on my holy day;

If you call the sabbath a delight,

the LORD’s holy day glorious;

If you glorify it by not following your ways,

seeking your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs—

14 Then you shall delight in the LORD,

and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

RESPONSE

Psalm 86:11ab

11 Teach me, LORD, your way

that I may walk in your truth,

single-hearted and revering your name.

PSALM

Psalm 86:1–6

1 A prayer of David.

Incline your ear, LORD, and answer me,

for I am poor and oppressed.

2 Preserve my life, for I am devoted;

save your servant who trusts in you.

You are my God; 3 be gracious to me, Lord;

to you I call all the day.

4 Gladden the soul of your servant;

to you, Lord, I lift up my soul.

5 Lord, you are good and forgiving,

most merciful to all who call on you.

6 LORD, hear my prayer;

listen to my cry for help.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Ezekiel 33:11

11 Answer them: As I live—oracle of the Lord GOD—I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.

Turn, turn from your evil ways!

Why should you die, house of Israel?

GOSPEL

Luke 5:27–32

27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.

He said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.

29 Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them.

30 The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.