A Sermon on the 5th Sunday After the Resurrection of the LORD

First Reading (alternate): Judith 13:1–16

¹Now when evening came, the king’s slaves hastened to leave. And Bagoas secured the tent from the outside and shut out those present from the presence of his lord and they went to their beds, for they were all weary from the drinking that was going on for so long. ²Judith was alone in the tent, but Holofernes collapsed upon his bed because of the pouring out of [so much] wine. ³Then Judith had told her slave-girl to stand outside the bedchamber and to wait for her to come out, as she did other days; for she said she would go out for her prayer. She spoke to Bagoas these same words. ⁴So everyone went out beyond sight, and no one was left in the bedchamber, either small or great. Then Judith, standing beside his bed, said in her heart, “Holy God of all power, look with care in this hour on the work of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem. ⁵Now is the time to help your heritage and to carry out my intention to destroy the enemies who have risen up against us.”
  ⁶And she came to the bedpost at Holofernes’s head and took down his sword from there. ⁷Then she came toward his bed, caught the hair of his head, and said, “Give me strength today, Holy God of Israel!” ⁸And she struck his neck twice with all her might, and cut off his head. ⁹Then she rolled his body off the bed and snatched the canopy from the post. A little later she went out and gave Holofernes’s head to her slave-girl, ¹⁰who placed it in her food bag. Then the two women went out together, according to their custom at the time for prayer. And they passed through the encampment, circled the valley, and went up the mountain to Bethulia, and came to its gates. ¹¹Then, from a distance, Judith called out to the guards at the gates, “Open! Open the gate! God, our God, is with us, working deeds of power in Israel and might against our enemies, as God has done today!”
  ¹²And it happened when the men of her town heard her voice, they rushed to come down to the gate of the city and summoned the elders of the city. ¹³And they all ran together, from small to great, for it was extraordinary to them that she returned. And they opened the gate and welcomed the women and they lit a fire to provide light and gathered around the women. ¹⁴Then Judith said to them with a loud voice, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise God, who did not withdraw mercy from the house of Israel, but has broken our enemies by my hand this night!”
  ¹⁵Then, taking the head from the bag, showing it, she said to them, “See here! The head of Holofernes, the head general of the Assyrian army, and see now! The canopy on which he was lying in his drunkenness, and the Most High struck him down with a feminine hand. ¹⁶And as the Eternal One lives, who kept me on my way in which I went, what deceived him was my face—to his utter ruin—and that he committed no sin with me, to defile or shame me.”

Psalm: Psalm 102:17–21, 25–28

 ¹⁷God regards the prayer of the destitute,
 and she does not despise their prayer.
 ¹⁸Let this be engraved for a generation to come,
 so that a people yet unborn may praise the Wisdom of the Ages:
 ¹⁹that she looked down from her holy height,
 from heaven the Creator of All beheld the earth,
 ²⁰to hear the groaning of the prisoner,
 to set free those who were condemned to die;
 ²¹so that the Name of the Holy God may be recounted in Zion,
 and her praise in Jerusalem.
 ²⁵In the time before time you laid the foundation of the earth,
 and the heavens are the work of your hands.
 ²⁶They shall perish, yet you shall abide,
 and all of them will all wear out like a garment.
 Like clothing you change them and they pass away.
 ²⁷Yet you are the One and your years will not end.
 ²⁸The daughters and sons of your slaves shall be settled,
 and their offspring shall be established in your presence.

Second Reading: Colossians 4:10–17

¹⁰Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you all, so too Mark the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you have received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him. ¹¹And Jesus who is called Justus [greets you]. These of the circumcised are my only coworkers for the realm of God, and they have been a comfort to me. ¹²Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of the Messiah Jesus, greets you all. He is always fighting for you all in his prayers, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in everything that is the will of God. ¹³For I testify for him that he has [done] much hard labor for you all and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. ¹⁴Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. ¹⁵Give my greetings to the sisters and brothers in Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. ¹⁶And when this has been read among you all, make it so that it is read in the Laodicean church; and you all read the one from Laodicea. ¹⁷And say to Archippus, “See that the ministry you have received in the Messiah, that you fulfill it.”

Gospel: Luke 15:1–10

¹Now it happened that all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. ²And the Pharisees and the biblical scholars were grumbling and saying, “This one welcomes sinners and dines with them.” ³Then Jesus spoke to them telling this parable, saying: ⁴“Which mother’s child among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until you find it? ⁵And finding it, lay it on your shoulders and rejoice? ⁶And when you come back to your home, you call together your friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷I say to you all, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous somebodies who have no need for repentance. ⁸Or, what woman having ten silver drachma coins [worth ten days wages], if she loses one of them does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search until she finds it? ⁹Then finding it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because for I have found the coin that I lost.’ ¹⁰In the same way I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”