Lenten Midweek Sermon 3 - Jesus Sinners Doth Receive - 2020

Stanzas 1, 2, 3:

Jesus sinners doth receive;

    Oh, may all this saying ponder

Who in sin’s delusions live

    And from God and heaven wander!

Here is hope for all who grieve:

Jesus sinners doth receive.

We deserve but grief and shame,

    Yet His words, rich grace revealing,

Pardon, peace, and life proclaim;

    Here our ills have perfect healing.

Firmly in these words believe:

Jesus sinners doth receive.

Sheep that from the fold did stray

    No true shepherd e’er forsaketh;

Weary souls that lost their way

    Christ, the Shepherd, gently taketh

In His arms that they may live:

Jesus sinners doth receive.

Homily 1:

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” We are sinners. We are those sheep that from the fold did stray. We deserve but grief and shame. 

This pestilence that’s raging around us? We deserve it and more. I’m no exception, chief of sinners though I be. I have failed grievously. I deserve to suffer from the pestilence and I don’t deserve any of God’s many blessings. We have been cavalier with the Word of God. We have neglected it. We’ve made petty excuses to ignore it, we’ve said we’re too busy to delight in it, we’ve busied ourselves with money and games at the expense of the Word and the Sacrament. We’ve said, oh I’ll go to church later, no big deal. I’ll pray some other day. I’ll read the Bible some other time. I’ll get this faith thing figured out later. And now today so many churches in our country have shuttered their doors! Worse than the pestilence of COVID19, is the famine of the Word. For a long time it’s been self inflicted, now it’s nearly mandated. We’ve sinned and not cared. 

We delight in fornication and consider it normal behavior. We have ignored the pestilence which has killed millions of babies in their mothers’ wombs and have hardly batted an eye, let alone shut down the country. We’ve permitted perverse and immoral behavior and taken delight in it. We’ve not cared for our neighbor, but have been negligent towards one another. We have sinned by our own fault, by our own most grievous fault. Lord have mercy on us! Purge away our sins!

We are sinners and Jesus receives sinners. We deserve but grief and shame, yet His words, rich grace revealing, pardon, peace, and life proclaim! We are sheep who have strayed from the fold, but our Good Shepherd does NOT forsake us! Instead our Shepherd gives everything in order to win us back. Our Shepherd, Jesus, lays down his life for the sheep, for you. It’s not too late to return!

While this pestilence is raging, and your soul becomes weary, you’re drained emotionally, physically, and mentally; you have a shepherd who gently takes you in His arms that you may live. When you fall asleep exhausted at the end of the day but awake in the middle of the night because of the anxiety; lay your grief and shame on Christ who bears your burden beside you. We definitely deserve this plague, but see the compassion of Christ who forgives the pestilence of our sin.

Remember that Jesus receives sinners such as us, so heed your Savior’s call:

Stanzas 3.1, 4:

Come, all sinners, come you here,

Come though gloom and doubt betake you.

Jesus calls you - do not fear!

He will God's own children make you!

Firmly in these words believe:

Jesus sinners doth receive.

I, a sinner, come to Thee

    With a penitent confession.

Savior, mercy show to me;

    Grant for all my sins remission.

Let these words my soul relieve:

Jesus sinners doth receive.

Homily 2:

“Come, all sinners, come you here, come though gloom and doubt betake you. Jesus calls you, do not fear! He will God’s own children make you! Firmly in these words believe: Jesus sinners doth receive.”

Oh how gloomy is this world right now! There is such sadness and heavy depression among us. You can see it in the faces of many, even in the mirror, that look of fear and dread, worry about so many things. Am I, or my family, going to get sick and die? How am I going to pay my bills if I can’t work? How am I going to buy groceries if the store shelves are empty along with my wallet? When am I going to get to go out again? 

The thoughts of doubt and gloom race through our minds. And it is precisely when we are at our lowest and most scared that Christ speaks through this dread! Jesus calls you and says: Do not fear! Jesus makes you God’s own children! You remember being a little child and mostly ignorant to the cares of this world? That’s because your parents took care of you and worried for you. Life was all about playing! I hold my daughter and smile at her and she smiles right back, ignorant of our current pandemic, and in her eyes and toothless grin all you see is simple joy unburdened from the cares of this life. 

Jesus offers that same unbridled joy to you, dear Christian, even now in the midst of a pandemic. He gives you this joy eternally even, because Jesus sinners doth receive! Your Father in heaven takes care of you and worries for you. All of our wretched scarlett sins through which we deserve our current plight shall be as white as snow by the blood and bitter passion of Christ! Don’t dwell so much on the panic of this pandemic, but ruminate on God’s abundant grace and mercy which are yours in Christ Jesus.

Let your conscience be at peace! You are forgiven! Here our ills have perfect healing in the medicine of immortality! Your sickness of sin has been healed, so don’t fear some lousy virus! You have been released from your bondage to sin, so don’t fear your bondage and quarantine to your home! All sin has been forgiven, naught remains my soul to grieve!

And when this pestilence, or some other, take our life, and we this earth must leave, we shall find an open heaven! Dying, still to Christ we cleave! Jesus sinners doth receive. 

Stanzas 5, 6, 7:

Oh, how blest it is to know:

    Were as scarlet my transgression,

It shall be as white as snow

    By Thy blood and bitter passion;

For these words I now believe:

Jesus sinners doth receive.

Now my conscience is at peace;

    From the Law I stand acquitted.

Christ hath purchased my release

    And my ev’ry sin remitted.

Naught remains my soul to grieve:

Jesus sinners doth receive.

Jesus sinners doth receive;

    Also I have been forgiven;

And when I this earth must leave,

    I shall find an open heaven.

Dying, still to Him I cleave:

Jesus sinners doth receive.

Text: Public domain Jesus Sinners Doth Receive LSB 609