Three lessons from the Good Samaritan

Posted on August 30, 2026 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 13

Galatians 3:15-22 + Luke 10:23-37

During His short three-to-four-year ministry, Jesus told many stories, also known as parables—stories from everyday life in first-century Israel that compared some aspect of earthy life with a heavenly truth, a spiritual teaching. He was famous both for His miracles and for His parables. And, while the stories themselves may not resonate with 21st century Americans in the exact same way they did with first-century Israelites (since our experiences aren’t quite the same), the masterclass storytelling of Jesus, the Son of God, still conveys the exact same heavenly truth and spiritual teaching to today’s world, and to today’s Christians. And the parable of Good Samaritan may be at the top of the list when it comes to masterclass storytelling. Because the same story is meant to be understood from three different perspectives. Or, we might say, it teaches three distinct lessons. The Good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable is supposed to represent everyone, but he doesn’t. He’s supposed to represent Christ Himself, and he does. And, thirdly, he’s supposed to represent forgiven Christians, so let’s see to it that he does!

As always, we start with the context of the parable. We start with Jesus’ words to His own disciples, telling them how fortunate, how blessed they were to be hearing His teaching and seeing His miracles, because, as He says, Many prophets and kings desired to see the things you are seeing and did not see them, and to hear the things you are hearing, and did not hear them. The Old Testament saints, including prophets and kings, yearned to have the Christ there with them, teaching them openly and directly, but they couldn’t. The time wasn’t yet right. Consider how blessed the people of Israel were at the time of Jesus, to hear God explaining to them the truth they needed to know in order to be saved. Remember how blessed you are to have His words recorded for you in the inspired Scriptures of the New Testament. And be careful not to squander or minimize that blessing!

Then, on to the conversation that led to the parable. A certain expert in the Law stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” First, notice, this is not an honest question. It’s a test, so that will affect how Jesus answers. It’s a test to see whether or not Jesus agrees with the Old Testament Law. If not, then no one in Israel should be listening to Him. But if so, then what’s the point of this “Gospel” He’s been teaching?

Jesus shows that He does agree with the Law. He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and [you shall love] your neighbor as yourself.” Those are direct quotes from the Law of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, specifically, from the book of Deuteronomy, and from the book of Leviticus. Some might be surprised that Jesus didn’t quote from the Ten Commandments directly, but remember, the Ten Commandments are just specific examples of the overarching principles of the Law, namely, wholehearted love for God, and love for your neighbor that equals, that’s no less than, the love you have for yourself, so that, however you would want someone to treat you, that’s how you treat them. As Jesus summarized it elsewhere, Do for your neighbor what you would have your neighbor do for you.

Good answer!, Jesus says. Do this, and you will live. That’s “all” you have to do in order to inherit eternal life. Perfection. Sinlessness. Perfect devotion, to God and to your neighbor, that begins in your heart, and that plays out in your life. That’s what the Law says. That’s what the Law demands.

The lawyer was beginning to understand his predicament. He was an expert in the Law, but he hadn’t taken his own law very seriously. When he actually thought about how much it requires, he began to realize, that’s much harder than I thought! The Law demands a degree of devotion, to God and to one’s neighbor, that goes beyond anything anyone has ever been able to accomplish. So he felt the need to justify himself, to justify his reliance on the Law. And the only way he could think of to do that, was to maybe narrow down who his neighbor is, so that he doesn’t have to love too many people as he loves himself. Wanting to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

The lawyer was hoping to narrow down the list of people he was required to love, but, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus expands the list exponentially.

A man, presumably a Jew, goes down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and, as he walks along the road, he’s ambushed by thieves who strip him, rob him, and beat him to within an inch of his life, leaving him dying on the side of the road. A Jewish priest comes along, sees the wounded man, and passes by. A Jewish Levite, a helper of the priests, comes along, sees the wounded man, and passes by. Then a Samaritan, hated by the Jews, comes by, sees the wounded man, and goes right to his side to help him and tend to his wounds. He puts him up on his animal, takes him to an inn, takes care of him all night, and then, the next day, leaves money for the innkeeper to care for the man until the Samaritan returns from his journey, even promising to pay more when he returns if the money he leaves isn’t enough. How kind the Good Samaritan is!

And then Jesus puts the question to the lawyer, Now which of these three, do you think—the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan—was a neighbor to the man who fell among the thieves? And he said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” Go and show mercy—that depth of mercy—to your neighbor, that is, to everyone whom God places next to you in your path who needs the help that you can provide. Do this, and you will live. This is what the Law requires. Meanwhile, we’re also led to the opposite conclusion: Don’t do this, and you will die. This is what the Law threatens.

As I said earlier, there are three lessons that are being taught here, by the actions of the Good Samaritan. Jesus may have spelled them out to the lawyer, if the lawyer had asked the question honestly, without malice, seeking a helpful reply. As it is, Jesus leaves the lessons unexplained here, but both He and His apostles, including the apostle Paul in today’s Epistle, reveal the lessons throughout the New Testament.

The first lesson is this, that the Good Samaritan is supposed to represent everyone, all men, all the time. When God created Adam and Eve, this is what He expected of them, and of their future children, the same level of kindness and goodness and mercy to be shown to anyone in their path that the Good Samaritan showed to the needy man in his path, in his vicinity. This is what “love your neighbor as yourself” looks like in practice. This is what the timeless and eternal Law of God commands all men, and requires of all men, if we are to inherit eternal life by doing things.

But, in reality, the Good Samaritan doesn’t represent all men. Far from it. In fact, he doesn’t represent any man. No one is that good to his neighbor. No one is that loving toward a random stranger in his path, especially one who is his natural enemy. And that’s because, sin has corrupted the soul of everyone descended from Adam and Eve. Human beings are not outward-focused, by nature, looking for ways to serve our neighbor. We’re inward-focused, by nature, looking for ways to serve ourselves. So, for the lawyer in the Gospel, Jesus’ words, “Go and do likewise” must have come as a hammer blow to the soul. Because there was only one reasonable conclusion he could come to: If that’s what the Law requires, then I’m doomed.

That’s what makes the second lesson of the Good Samaritan so important. The second lesson is this, that the Good Samaritan is supposed to represent the Savior of mankind, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he does! The Lord Jesus truly is that kind and good, the only Man who has ever kept the Law perfectly. The Lord Jesus saw us all as wounded, half-dead creatures, injured by our own sins and by the devil, unable to save ourselves. And He took pity. He came to our side, taking on human flesh to become the Savior of mankind. He took up our sorrows. He took up our suffering. He paid for our salvation with His own death on the cross, and then came to us in Word and Sacrament, brought us to faith by His Spirit, and applied to us the healing of the forgiveness of sins. At the same time, He brought us into His Church, like the inn in Jesus’ parable, and left behind more Word and Sacrament in the hands of His chosen ministers, to keep tending the wounded throughout this life, until He returns at the end of the age. The Law was not given in the Old Testament to give men a path to inherit eternal life. The Law was given to cause all men to see themselves as the sinners we are, so that we might despair of ourselves and look instead to the coming Christ as our merciful Savior, as the truly Good Samaritan.

And then, for those forgiven sinners who have been brought into Christ’s Church, through Baptism and through faith, as we are being tended throughout this life by the ongoing ministry of the Word, there is a third lesson for us in the Good Samaritan. He’s supposed to represent the kindness, goodness, and mercy of those who have received the kindness, goodness, and mercy of Jesus. In other words, He’s supposed to be a model for Christians to follow. The Christian has been set free from trying to do things to inherit eternal life. We know that Christ has obtained eternal life for us, and that we who believe in Christ inherit everything that Christ Himself inherits. We’ve been baptized into Him, which makes us coheirs together with Him. But that means we are also being remade in His kind and merciful image throughout this life. So when Jesus says, “Go and do likewise”—do like the Samaritan did—He is shaping us into people who have the heart of the Samaritan, urging each Christian to look around and see what opportunities God places in his or her path, to show mercy and kindness to the one who needs help. Maybe that path lies far away, in another state or in another country, as the Lord has given us opportunities to know and to help Christians there. But, usually, you don’t have to look on the far side of the globe. Keep your eyes open for opportunities that lie right in front of you, to show mercy, without asking what’s in it for you, but simply asking, What help does my neighbor need that I can provide?

Then you will have learned all three lessons of the Good Samaritan: that you, a sinner, can never do anything to inherit eternal life; that the merciful Lord Jesus has come to the sinner’s aid, to give you the gift of eternal life; and that those who have received the gift of mercy are now instructed to show that mercy to others. May God the Holy Spirit drive these lessons into your heart, and may they bear much fruit, as you love God and your neighbor. Amen.

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When the tongue is used against the Holy Spirit

Posted on August 26, 2026 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the week of Trinity 12

James 3:1-12 + Matthew 12:31-36

In Sunday’s Gospel, we talked about the spiritual use of ears that need to be opened in order for faith to be kindled in our hearts, and about the spiritual use of tongues, that need to be loosed by the Holy Spirit in order for us to say useful and not useless things, when it comes to the things of God.

James, in tonight’s First Lesson, gives us some graphic examples of the misuse of the tongue, even, potentially, among the converted, among believers who have not been using their loosed tongues well, but have been using them to tear others down, instead of building them up, who have not been striving hard enough to tame their tongues, but have allowed them to be used by the sinful flesh, instead of letting them be guided by the Holy Spirit.

In the second Lesson tonight, Jesus has some very serious things to say about the use of the tongue, both for believers and for unbelievers, and about the Holy Spirit, too. It’s a frightening text, really, and it’s meant to be—frightening to everyone who simply lets his tongue wag, uncontrolled, especially when that tongue starts speaking against the Spirit of God Himself. This evening, we’ll take a moment to consider the dreadful blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says, Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. What is the sin, or the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? We need to look, first, at the context, as we always do. Jesus is speaking here against the Pharisees who had just accused Him of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the chief of the demons, or unclean spirits, also known as Satan. Mark, in his Gospel, tells us explicitly that Jesus said this to them because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.” Well, how is that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Because, as Jesus Himself points out, He was actually driving out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. So the Pharisees were calling the Holy Spirit “Beelzebub,” an unclean spirit. That’s outright blasphemy, irreverent slander against God.

Now, did they realize they were calling the Holy Spirit Beelzebub? Did they recognize that it was God’s own Spirit working through Jesus? Of course not! And that’s important. Just because they were speaking from ignorance doesn’t give them an excuse. They had the Spirit-inspired Scriptures of the Old Testament, which means they could have examined Jesus’ words and actions based on the Spirit-inspired Scriptures and recognized that He was fulfilling them, not contradicting them. But, instead, they uttered idle, careless, and, for themselves, dangerous words.

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, Jesus says, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. In Mark’s Gospel, it comes across even more strongly, All sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.

What is Jesus saying here? That all other sins, including going around slandering Jesus, will automatically be forgiven to everyone? No, He means that there is forgiveness for every kind of sin, even slandering the Son of God, but that forgiveness happens only through faith in Christ, who suffered for those sins on the cross. And faith comes only by hearing the message that is preached. The message that is preached is how the Holy Spirit does His work of convicting and converting sinners. So if a person bashes or speaks against the message, the very preaching of the Gospel, he’s bashing the very means by which he could be converted to faith and forgiven. It’s like, if a doctor had the cure for all cancer in a single injection, but when it came time to give the shot to the cancer patient, the cancer patient kicked the needle out of the doctor’s hand and said, “To hell with your injection! That’s poison! I want nothing to do with it!” That cancer patient would not be cured.

So it is with those who speak against the Holy Spirit. They speak against the very working of the Spirit that has the power to convert them. As long as you’re biting the hand that’s trying to feed you, you won’t get fed, will you? As long as a person speaks against the ministry of the Holy Spirit, he will never be brought to repentance or faith, and so he will never be forgiven.

What would be an example of this unpardonable sin, of blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Well, you know that we teach the very Gospel of Christ, that sinners are justified by faith alone in Christ Jesus. Tragically, lots of people in the world, both non-Christians and many so-called Christians, openly condemn that very Gospel as nonsense, as foolishness, and as heresy. Even certain people within the Lutherans synods are guilty of berating the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ Jesus, labeling those of us who teach it as heretics. That’s no different than claiming that Jesus Himself had an unclean spirit. Such people may well have committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit. At very least, they are in danger of it, as long as they refuse to humble themselves and listen to the Spirit’s teaching.

The same is true for all who persistently resist the Holy Spirit, who attack the Spirit-inspired Scriptures, and who remain in that unbelief until they die. To speak against the authority and the veracity of the Scriptures is to speak against the One who inspired them, the Holy Spirit of God. Likewise, to speak maliciously against a minister who is carrying out his God-given ministry faithfully, who is preaching the truth of God’s Word, that may also fall into the category of the sin against the Holy Spirit. And people do these things today, left and right, from both outside and inside the Church, as the Roman Church, for example, did to Martin Luther and has done to many others. But they should take care. These are some of the very “idle” or “useless” words about which Jesus warns at the end of our Lesson, But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

Now, some Christians worry that they’ve committed this unpardonable sin, this sin against the Holy Spirit, without knowing it. They’re frightened by Jesus’ words. But, hear this: If Jesus’ words are able to get through to you, so that you hear them, so that they frighten you, so that they call you to humility before God and His Word, to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, then clearly you haven’t committed any unpardonable sin. Jesus says elsewhere, The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. And to His ministers He said, If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. So if you’re afraid you’ve sinned against the Holy Spirit and the ministry of His Word, go to Jesus, confess your sin, receive absolution from His minister. And know that you have not committed an unpardonable sin, because the suffering and death of Jesus is worth enough to cover all sins. And you have been brought, by His Spirit, through His Word, back to repentance and faith—unlike most of the Pharisees, who remained in unbelief until their death. Where there is repentance, where there is faith in Christ, there is always forgiveness and acceptance by God.

But let this evening’s Lesson keep you vigilant. Be humble before the Word of God. Hear it, and submit your reason to it. As the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at my word. Tremble at God’s Word, and you will never be led astray to denounce it. Let your redeemed and loosed tongue always speak useful and not useless or idle words. And if you find that you’ve spoken some of those idle words, repent and take refuge in the Lord Jesus, so that the blood of Christ may keep you safe on the Day of Judgment. Amen.

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Only the Spirit can open ears and tongues

Posted on August 23, 2026 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 12

2 Corinthians 3:4-11 + Mark 7:31-37

The healing miracles of Jesus all teach the same basic things, about Jesus’ kindness, goodness, compassion, and power. We don’t ever want to overlook those basic things about our Savior, or turn His miracles into nothing more than lessons about something else. The real power of God was truly on display every time Jesus miraculously healed a disease or a malady, and so were His kindness, goodness, and compassion. But neither should we avoid the obvious and unique lessons that flow from each miracle, as we apply the rest of the Scriptures to them, where the Scriptures themselves have more to say.

The healing of the man with faulty ears and tongue is no exception. The Scriptures are full of references to hearing as not only a physical ability, but a spiritual one. The same is true of speaking. What’s more, the Scriptures are full of condemnation for ears that fail to hear, and tongues that are misused when it comes to the things of God. And so we consider again today the healing of the man whose ears were closed and whose tongue was tied, so that God the Holy Spirit may work on our ears and tongues as we do.

If you had to choose between being blind or being deaf, I think most people would choose deafness. Obviously, God created us to navigate through this life with both sight and hearing, and speech, intact. His design works best when all three are present. But of the three, sight seems like the most necessary. And yet, when it comes to spiritual things, the things of God, sight is often the least helpful. It’s hearing that matters most. The Apostle Paul summarizes that truth for us very succinctly in Romans 10, as you heard this past Wednesday at Vespers, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Now, for Adam and Eve in their sinless state, they got to have all three things. They got to see God, walk with God, and talk with God. But now that mankind has plunged itself into sin and the corruption of our hearts, God has, for the most part, removed His visible presence among us and has chosen to deal with us through preaching done by men, through the word of God that reaches our hearts through our ears. So, for that reason, hearing is really the most important sense God has given us. And when that sense is absent, a person is at a severe disadvantage.

But even then, hearing alone is not enough. The entire nation of Israel, in Old Testament times, heard the word of God, to no avail. St. Paul asks the rhetorical question about Israel, “Have they not heard?” Yes, he says, they all heard. But most did not believe. To Israel, God says, All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people. It’s no different today. Most of the world has heard the Gospel, and most of the world still rejects it.

So the simple act of hearing, by itself, is essential, but still not enough. As St. Paul writes, The natural man, that is, the man who is not born again, man before his conversion, does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. So physical hearing must be accompanied by something else, if the word of God is to have an effect on a person. The Spirit of God has to enter the ears together with the Word, and the hearer mustn’t resist His working. Now, don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not as if the Spirit sometimes accompanies the preaching of God’s Word, and sometimes doesn’t. He’s always working through the Word, when it’s preached and pondered. But sinful man has a terrible power of his own, a power which God has left to him, a power of which Stephen, the first martyr, accused the unbelieving Jews of employing, just before they stoned him to death: You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

The deaf man in today’s Gospel represents the natural man, before his conversion. Deaf to the truth, about himself, about God, and about the way of salvation. Only Jesus, working by His Spirit, can open our ears and hearts so that we hear the Word of God with understanding and with faith. At the same time, the natural man cannot speak straight, either. He can’t rightly pray. He can’t rightly praise God. He can’t rightly talk to God, or about God. So, again, the man in today’s Gospel is a good picture of man before his conversion.

But then what happens? The man has some friends who bring him to Jesus, the only One who can help. It’s not unlike when you Christians bring your friends or family or acquaintances to church with you. You don’t bring them so that they can admire the church building, or be entertained by the music. You bring them so that they can meet Jesus, through His Word. So that He can work on them, to set their ears and their tongues—and their hearts!—free from the bonds placed on them by sin.

Jesus gladly stopped what He was doing and took the deaf man aside. He always has time for those who come to Him for His help, and He always offers it freely and generously.

First, He puts His fingers in the man’s ears. That seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? But it’s exactly what’s needed. It isn’t the noise of this world that we need to hear. We need to hear God, who doesn’t speak straight into our hearts when we pray. He shoves His fingers into our ears by His Holy Spirit, whom Jesus once referred to as “the Finger of God,” because it’s the Holy Spirit who enters the ears through the word of the prophets and apostles, through preaching, to work faith in the heart, just as Jesus’ fingers entered the deaf man’s ears in order to open them.

Jesus then spits and touches the man’s tongue. Our healing doesn’t come from within. It comes from Jesus, literally from His human body, which He took on in order to earn righteousness for us as a man, living under the Law. Through the spittle of Jesus’ body, and the word of His mouth, the man’s tongue in the Gospel would be loosed. Likewise, through the death of Jesus’ body and through the shedding of His blood, and through the Word that goes out from His mouth, now risen from the dead, a sinner’s tongue is also healed, as the Spirit of Christ enters your ears through preaching and creates faith, by which He applies the crucified body and the shed blood of Jesus to you. And when the minister hands out the body and blood of Jesus in the Sacrament of the Altar, the Holy Spirit is there, too, forgiving you your sins, and freeing your tongue, to give thanks to God, to praise Him, and to confess Christ before men.

Before He’s finished, Jesus looks up to heaven and sighs. Sighing (or “groaning”) is another symbol in Scripture of the Holy Spirit. As St. Paul writes, the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings (or “sighings”) which cannot be uttered. Very simply, Jesus teaches the deaf man to trust in our Father in heaven, as He looks up to heaven, and to trust in Jesus, who is standing before him, and to trust in the Holy Spirit—the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who cares for the wretched and yearns for our healing.

And then Jesus speaks the word of healing in Aramaic, “Ephphatha!” Be opened! And the man’s ears were immediately opened, and his tongue was opened, or loosed. And the people were amazed, at Jesus’ kindness, goodness, compassion, and power.

Let’s apply this lesson to ourselves. There was a time when all of us here were unconverted, not born again. Maybe you were too young to remember that time, or maybe you can remember it very well. At that time, you didn’t know God, didn’t believe in God, and, in fact, were hostile to God in your inner being. But in His grace, the Lord sent a preacher to you, and, as always, He sent His Holy Spirit through that preaching, and also through the preaching of Baptism. And it reached you. And your deaf ears were opened to hear, and believe, that you are a sinner, in need of the salvation that only God can provide. Your ears were opened to hear, and believe, how good Jesus is, how much God loves you, and how much He has done for you, that you might be saved, even giving His own Son into death on the cross, so that you might have eternal life with Him in heavenly glory. At the same time, your tongue was loosed, to pray to your Father in heaven with faith and trust, to praise Him, and to confess Him boldly before men.

And now, God says, you must use them. Use your opened ears to gladly hear and learn the Word of God, day by day. Use them to listen to edifying things, not filthy, sinful things. Use them also to listen with attention and compassion to your neighbor. As for your tongue, use it, day by day, to pray, praise, and give thanks to your merciful God. Use it to build up your neighbor and not to tear him down. Use it to share the wisdom you have learned by listening to God’s Word. And use it also to confess the Lord Jesus before men, to speak only what is true, and right, using every opportunity the Lord provides to make a defense of the hope that is in you.

None of that would be possible without the Spirit of God working powerfully through the Gospel, working in you, and through you. But with the Spirit of God, you are well-equipped to hear, and to speak, and to live as hearing and straight-speaking people, among all the spiritually deaf and dumb people of this world. May the Lord provide you with many opportunities to bring them to Jesus for help, so that the Spirit may work on their ears and tongues, too. Amen.

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The account of the Pharisee and the sinful woman

Posted on August 19, 2026 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the week of Trinity 11

Romans 10:4-18 + Luke 7:36-50

On Sunday, we considered Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. This evening, we consider, not the parable, but the real-life story of the Pharisee and the sinful woman, in which a similar lesson is being taught.

The three main characters here are Jesus, the unnamed woman, and Simon the Pharisee. As Jesus reclines at the table at Simon’s house, a woman enters and approaches Jesus with great humility—like the tax collector who went up to the temple to pray. Jesus is reclining at the table, as they did back then, with His feet pointed outward, away from the table. So the woman stands behind Jesus, near His feet, weeping, and her tears fall on His feet. Then she kneels down and wipes them with her hair. She kisses them repeatedly. And she pours myrrh on them, a costly perfume.

Remember what Isaiah wrote, which the apostle Paul quoted in the first Lesson you heard tonight? How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation. That verse refers to all ministers of the Gospel, but only because it was Jesus Himself who first proclaimed that good news, that “Gospel” of good things, of salvation, the promise that God will freely forgive sins to everyone who comes to Jesus, the Lamb of God, in humility and in faith, even to the sinner who is guilty of the filthiest acts, as the woman at Simon’s house apparently was, and who has lived in open or in secret hostility toward God his whole life. Or her whole life.

To a person like that, like the sinful woman in the Gospel, the feet of Jesus, the Son of God, the One who came from God to atone for her sins with His own blood, and to bring her a promise of free forgiveness and reconciliation with God—to her, His feet were truly beautiful, and her tears and her peculiar attention to Jesus’ feet flowed from a heart that knew just how badly she had offended her God, just how tightly she had formerly embraced the filthy devil and his ways, just how close she had been to eternal death, but now, just how wonderful her God was, who loved her still, and who offered her forgiveness of those sins, and eternal life in His presence, and salvation from the slavery to sin and death, through this Son of Man and Son of God reclining at the table in front of her.

But to Simon, a self-righteous Pharisee, who already thought he was better than most people, who had never lived an openly detestable life, her behavior there in his house was inexplicable, and even disgusting, and Jesus’ acceptance of it spoke poorly of Him, in Simon’s eyes. If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of a woman this is, and he would send her away in the disgrace she deserves.

But Jesus took pity on Simon, too, and told him a very simple, very gentle parable to snap him out of his self-righteous condemnation of that woman who had shown such humility and love to Jesus. More than that, to cause him to reflect on his own sins before God, which were not actually as few as he imagined.

Two men owed money to a lender. One owed, let’s say $100,000. The other owed $10,000. Neither could pay, so the lender, in his mercy, forgave them both the entire debt. Which one would be more grateful? Which one would love the lender more? Obviously, the one who owed ten times more, and, therefore, had been forgiven ten times more.

Then Jesus goes on to show how that little parable played out in real life. The woman who knew how terribly sinful she was, how great her debt to God was, and how hot the hell was that she deserved, was promised the forgiveness of her enormous debt through Jesus. And so she loved Him very much. She showed that love by her tender, humble acts of devotion toward Jesus, with her tears and her hair and her kisses on Jesus’ feet and her pouring out of the expensive perfume that she had probably used before, on herself, as she practiced her sinful adultery. But now she pours it out on Jesus’ feet, as one who has abandoned her sinful life and has found forgiveness with Jesus, and a new life devoted to Him.

Simon, on the other hand, as Jesus Himself points out, didn’t even show Jesus the customary courtesies of a dinner host. No water for Jesus even to wash His own feet. No kiss of greeting on the cheek. No oil to anoint the head. Simon thought very little of Jesus, because he thought very little of his own sins, and so he didn’t view Jesus as having done anything very great for him. The one who thinks little of his sins thinks little of Jesus, too. Her sins, Jesus says, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.

The woman’s demonstration of love showed everyone the faith that God had already worked in her heart, and so Jesus says to her, Your sins are forgiven…Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Now, which came first, the pronouncement of forgiveness on Jesus’ part, or the faith, or the acts of love on her part? Well, first came the word about Jesus that brought her there in the first place, that He is kind and gracious, and that He forgives sins in God’s name to all who humble themselves before Him. That word came first. Then, clearly the faith came next, which came from the word she had already heard about Jesus, which brought her to this dinner hall and which already made her a forgiven daughter of God. Then came the acts of love. And then came the public pronouncement of forgiveness, affirming that her love flowed from faith in sins already forgiven, a testimony of the righteousness that was hers by faith. And so Jesus told her, Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. That pronouncement of forgiveness, like the pastor’s absolution, also gave her another firm and solid word of God on which to rest her faith and build her faith, so that the next time her conscience troubled her over her past sins, the next time Satan tried to remind her of what a wretched person she was, the next time a Pharisee or another person should treat her with contempt because of her sinful past, she could turn back to those words Jesus spoke to her, again and again, and be comforted again by the word of Christ’s forgiveness.

So let this account of the Pharisee and the sinful woman stick with you. Your debt of sin is far greater than you imagine it to be. Not one of us here needs to be forgiven only a little. So come to Jesus daily in humility and repentance. And believe, trust in the faithful Lord Jesus, who is the atoning sacrifice for your sins, and not only for yours, but for the sins of the whole world. Know that God promises to forgive everyone who humbles himself and believes in Jesus. And so, whether it’s the promise of the Gospel that you hear in every sermon, or whether it’s your Baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, applied to you individually, or the absolution from the pastor, in church or in private, cling to those promises and know that when God, through His minister, pronounces you forgiven, not even hell itself can override it. And finally, let demonstrations of love flow from God’s forgiveness, so that everything you do is done out of much love and devotion for Jesus, your merciful Redeemer, who has forgiven you much. Amen.

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You stand by God’s mercy, or not at all

Posted on August 16, 2026 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 11

1 Corinthians 15:1-10 + Luke 18:9-14

We have one of my favorite parables before us again today, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. It’s one of my favorites, because it presents the chief article of the Christian faith so simply that a child can understand it. How can a person stand before God and not be condemned? How can a person stand before the righteous God and be accepted? The Pharisee is our negative illustration; the tax collector, the positive—which is, by the way, the exact opposite of what anyone would expect. You stand by God’s mercy, or not at all.

Jesus told this parable to certain people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and who despised others. That alone tells us most of what we need to know. There’s a problem that Jesus, the Great Physician, has diagnosed among His patients, among His hearers. Trusting in yourself, that you are righteous, on the one hand, and despising other people, on the other hand, are two sides of the same twisted coin, two common symptoms of the same disease.

The Pharisee, in Jewish society, was the hero, the role model. But not in Jesus’ parable. In Jesus’ parable, the Pharisee is the villain, the one who trusts in himself, that he is righteous, and who despises others. He goes to the temple with that attitude, and we’re allowed to listen in on his prayer. O God, I thank you that I am not like other men—extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess.’ Let’s take a look at the features of this prayer.

First, you notice what the Pharisee doesn’t do. He doesn’t acknowledge any sin or wretchedness on his part, not even any weakness or shortcoming. He doesn’t humble himself before God at all. Instead, he exalts himself. He points out his goodness to God, the shameful sins he has successfully avoided, the good works he regularly does: his righteousness, his worthiness, his religiosity. And, in sort of a backhanded way, he puts down the tax collector who’s there in the temple with him. “Thank God I’m not like him!”

Then we’re also allowed to listen in on the tax collector’s prayer as he stands off in a corner by himself, beating his breast and not even daring to look up to heaven. The tax collector, in Jewish society, was the villain, the wicked sinner who stole from his fellow Israelites for a living. But in Jesus’ parable, this tax collector is the hero, the role model we are urged to follow, if we wish to see eternal life. His prayer is simple: God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

What does he do right? Well, first, even though he knows he’ll get dirty looks from his fellow worshipers, he goes to the temple, where God has promised to hear the prayers of His penitent people. That’s important. People today think that it’s the people who go to church who are the hypocrites, and those who stay home from church who are the real children of God. Not true at all. Both the Pharisee and the tax collector went to the temple to pray.

But unlike the Pharisee, the tax collector goes, not in pride, not to make a show, but in obvious repentance, clearly acknowledging and mourning over his past crimes and his sinful heart. He confesses himself to be “the sinner.” And he offers nothing to God, no righteousness of his own, no good works, and no excuses. He stands there, in the temple, before God, with nothing but a plea for God to do something for him, to deal with him according to His mercy, and not according to what he deserves.

That man, says Jesus, went down to his house justified rather than the other. Again, the tax collector is the role model here, not the Pharisee. In spite of the outwardly good life he had lived, the Pharisee went down to his house still under God’s decree, “Guilty!”, still under God’s sentence of eternal condemnation, because he tried to stand before God by offering God his own righteousness. But in God’s sight, there is no one righteous, based on his own record or on the cleanness of his own heart. All are guilty. But, as Jesus makes clear, there is a way for guilty sinners to receive a righteous verdict from the Judge: Humble yourself before Him. Acknowledge your guilt. And instead of offering Him your righteousness, instead of listing all the good things you’ve done, or the bad things you’ve successfully avoided in your life, plead for His mercy, for the righteousness of Christ to cover you, to stand for you, to count for you. Seek forgiveness from God, not praise. Seek His approval for Christ’s sake, not your own.

Those who exalt themselves before God will be humbled, will be rejected, will be cast away from God’s presence, because He sees their hidden sins, and the ones they hide from everyone else, the ones they refuse to acknowledge, including the sin of pride and of pretending that God owes them something. But those who humble themselves before God will be exalted, will be approved, will be forgiven. Because God is faithful, and gracious, and merciful. It’s His mercy that led Him to send His own beloved Son to the cross, to suffer and die for your sins. That’s why His mercy is wrapped up in the Person of Jesus. All who seek His mercy for Jesus’ sake will find it. You stand by God’s mercy, like the tax collector in the parable, or, like the Pharisee, you don’t stand at all.

See how this plays out in the life of a Christian. You saw the example of the tax collector in Jesus’ parable. Now look at the example of the apostle Paul. When he was still unconverted, he was, literally, a proud Pharisee, offering his own righteousness to God and despising those who were less righteous than he. But then he was led to see the truth: His works were rubbish (as he himself referred to them later on). His righteousness was paltry and worthless. He couldn’t stand before God by his works. He could only stand by seeking God’s mercy in Christ. As he wrote to the Philippians, I count all my works, yes, all things as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. And so he finally humbled himself before God, and was exalted.

You can hear that humility in today’s Epistle: The risen Lord Jesus was seen also by me, as by one born at the wrong time. For I am the least of the apostles. I am not even fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am. Does that sound to you more like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable or like the tax collector? It sounds more like the tax collector, doesn’t it?

And notice, too, what effect God’s mercy had on Paul’s life, and on his attitude, going forward. His grace toward me was not in vain; but I toiled more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. God’s mercy shown to Paul was not “in vain,” was not without effect. The effect of God’s mercy on Paul’s life was that Paul, recognizing just how great God’s mercy was toward him, who deserved only God’s wrath and punishment, toiled more and harder than all the other apostles. He loved much, because he had been forgiven much. And yet, even as he truthfully and accurately describes his good works as a Christian, he adds, in genuine humility, “yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” Unlike the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, Paul gives himself no credit, even for the truly good things he had done. He gives God, and the grace of God, all the praise and glory for all the good he did as an apostle, as is fitting for one who stands by God’s mercy.

So stand, Christians, each day, by God’s mercy, and don’t even think about praising yourself or thinking highly of yourself, as if you deserved praise from God. And then, if you stand only by the mercy of God, it won’t even occur to you to compare yourself with your neighbor, or to despise him or her because they aren’t as righteous as you. Because, after all, you don’t stand by your own righteousness, but by the mercy of God in Christ. Let your focus always remain on God’s mercy, not on your goodness. And then you will always go down to your house justified. Amen.

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