Summary
The Joy of Repentance
The parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:1-7 is so familiar that it can slip past us. Tax collectors and sinners draw near to Jesus; the Pharisees grumble that he eats with them; and Jesus answers with the picture of a shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to seek the one. We know the cast: Jesus is the shepherd, and we are the sheep. But settling for that summary causes us to overlook the heart of what Jesus is teaching about repentance and joy.
Repentance is the turning away from rebellion against God and his will and the turning toward alignment with him. It means we stop trusting in our own abilities and merit and instead trust the merit of Christ and the sacrifice he made on the cross. Yet two misconceptions often cling to the word. The first treats repentance as a burden—an unpleasant duty of admitting guilt. The second treats it as a work, a task we must perform thoroughly enough to earn forgiveness. Both miss what Scripture actually shows us.
Far from being a burden, repentance is a gift that lifts a burden. David describes the weight of unconfessed sin in Psalm 32:3-5: his body wasted away, his strength dried up, the hand of the Lord lay heavy upon him. Then he confessed, and the Lord forgave the guilt of his sin. Repentance is the open door through which Christ removes what we cannot remove ourselves. If you long for the forgiveness of Christ, if you can cry out as David did, you have already repented—and the forgiveness is yours.
Nor is repentance a work we muster up. The third article of the Apostles' Creed confesses what Luther's explanation makes plain: "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel." God does command repentance, but what God commands he also makes possible by his Spirit. The very desire to be free from sin is itself the Spirit's work, calling you out of sin and into life with Christ.
This is why the joy in Luke 15:7 belongs to the shepherd, not the sheep. The sheep does not find its way home; the shepherd finds the sheep, lays it on his shoulders, and rejoices. Luther put it sharply: if Christ your shepherd did not seek you and bring you back, you would simply fall prey to the wolf. You hear nothing about your powers, good works, or merits—unless we want to call wandering lost in the wilderness a merit. Christ alone is active here. He seeks, he carries, he directs, and through his death he earns life for you. He gathers you into his flock through Word and Sacrament.
This is the Joy of Repentance: not the relief of a debt we managed to pay, but the wonder that the Good Shepherd came down, took our sin upon his back, and carried us home. The joy belongs to heaven, where the angels rejoice over one sinner who repents, and it points forward to the marriage feast of the Lamb in Revelation 19. The word repentance may be familiar, but keep it familiar on your lips—because behind it stands a Shepherd who has already found you.
Video citations
- "Joy of Repentance" — The familiar. We are born with a sense of the familiar, of familiarity. We're born drawn to those voices that we could hear when we were in the womb. We are drawn to faces that we know well. We love…