Writing
In our study of the Gospel of Luke we are now in chapter 15. Jesus was reaching out to tax collectors and sinners with the good news of salvation. This angered the Pharisees and the scribes. Luke 15 is Jesus’ responding to the Pharisees and the scribes. It is a wonderful illustration of the good news of the gospel.
In fact, commentator William Barclay puts it this way:
There is no chapter of the New Testament as well known and as beloved as the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. It has been called “the gospel within the gospel” as if it contained the very distilled essence of the good news that Jesus came to tell.
Let’s read the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:4-7, though for context’s sake I’ll start with verses 1-3:
1 Now the tax collectors and the sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the field, and he goes after the one he lost until he finds it? 5 And when he finds her, he puts her on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, and says to them: ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 So I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need repentance. (Luke 15:4-7)
Introduction
Psalm 23 was written by David, and is the best known psalm in the entire Bible. David realized that the loving care he gave his sheep was like the loving care he received from God. So, David began his famous psalm with these words, “The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1). Then he enumerated all the things his shepherd did for him: laying him down in green pastures, leading him beside still waters, restoring his soul, walking with him through the valley of the shadow of death, preparing a table of food for him, anointing his head with oil. soothing, filling your cup with overflowing joy, and the sure promise of dwelling with God forever.
We love Psalm 23. So did God’s people throughout history. As commentator Philip Ryken puts it: “The shepherd of David’s psalm became part of God’s operative definition of Israel.”
God was seen as the perfect shepherd of his people. So whenever God’s people got into trouble – which was often! – they would pray the words of Psalm 80:1, 3, “Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. . . Restore us, O God; . . . so that we can be saved!”
The prophets of Israel described God as a good shepherd. For example, Isaiah emphasized God’s loving care for his least sheep. He said in Isaiah 40:11: “As a shepherd he will tend his flock; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will bear them in his bosom.”
God entrusted the work of shepherding to assistant shepherds. However, they were not always good shepherds for God’s people. God accused the assistant shepherds of scattering their flock through Jeremiah, “You have scattered my sheep and driven them away, and you have not cared for them” (23:2). God’s criticism through Ezekiel was even stronger, “You did not strengthen the weak, you did not heal the sick, you did not bind up the wounded, you did not bring back the lost, the lost you did not seek. . . My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, without anyone looking for them or looking for them” (34:4, 6).
According to God’s prophets, God’s sheep were lost. But the prophets also announced God’s remedy: the Good Shepherd himself would come to seek and save the lost (cf. Lk 19:10). Ezekiel proclaimed this message from God, “Behold, I myself will seek my sheep and seek them. As a shepherd recognizes his flock when he is in the midst of his scattered sheep, so will I seek my sheep, and rescue them from all places where they have been scattered” (34:11-12). God made a similar promise throughout of Jeremiah, and said that the shepherd who would save his people would be the son of David (cf. Jer. 23:3, 5).
The Pharisees and scribes were familiar with the motif of God as shepherd and the people as his sheep. They understood that they were the spiritual undershepherds of Israel. But they did not understand that Jesus was the Good Shepherd whom God had sent to seek and save the lost sheep.
Worse yet, the Pharisees and scribes did not realize that they were part of the problem. Instead of lovingly caring for God’s people, they were actually leading them astray. They were furious when Jesus associated with people like tax collectors and sinners. Luke said in Luke 15:1-2: “All the tax collectors and the sinners were drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying: ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’ ”
Tax collectors and sinners were spiritual outcasts. They didn’t seem to have any interest in God or the things of God. They did not worship God or participate in the life of the worshiping community. They were irreligious people.
But, because they were made in the image of God, they were spiritual beings. And when Jesus arrived, his message resonated with them. They wanted to know how they could come into a right relationship with God. And Jesus constantly told them that entrance into the kingdom of God was through faith in him and repentance of sin.
The religious people of that time, the Pharisees and the scribes, did not want any contact with irreligious people. They believed that any contact with irreligious people would contaminate them. As for the religious Pharisees and scribes, tax collectors and sinners, they were outside of Israel, outside of the faith and outside of God. Sadly, those of us who are part of Jesus’ church today sometimes have the same attitude toward those who are irreligious.
But, as far as Jesus is concerned, the plight of the irreligious, the spiritual outcasts, the lost sheep of Israel – the very people Israel’s undershepherds were supposed to rescue – were those he had already come for. save. So tax collectors and sinners were the people Jesus should be eating with.
Kenneth E. Bailey is a Presbyterian scholar who lived and taught in the Middle East. I will draw heavily on his various books regarding the parables of Jesus. Summarize Jesus’ response to critics of him:
Do you wonder why I receive sinners and eat with them? I do it because in my person God is fulfilling his great promise hinted at in the psalm of David’s shepherd and clearly explained in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Through those prophets he promised to come in person and gather the lost sheep. He also promised to rescue the flock from the shepherds who destroy it. This is who I am, and this is why I do what I do.
Jesus did not say this directly, of course. He told it by telling a parable to the Pharisees and the scribes. The parable began with Jesus as the Good Shepherd who finds the lost sheep.
Jesus’ parable actually has three parts, although we tend to call each part a separate parable. Luke said in verse 3, “And he told them this parable.” The parable runs to the end of chapter 15 and includes the story of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (although we will see that both sons were actually lost).
All three parts of the parabola make the same basic point. In each story something is lost, sought, found and celebrated.
According to Michael Wilcock, “The simple meaning of the chapter is that just as there is joy when any pastor or housewife or parent recovers a loss, so there is joy in heaven when a sinner is reunited with God.”
Philip Ryken puts it this way, “This three-in-one parable is about God’s joy in finding the lost – a joy we will share only if we have the heart that Jesus has for lost and dying sinners. he finds it, and rejoices at his recovery.
Lesson
The analysis of the lost sheep in Luke 15:4-7 teaches us that there is joy in heaven for every sinner who repents.
Let’s use the following scheme:
1. The search for the shepherd (15:4)
2. The shepherd’s success (15:5)
3. The Shepherd’s Celebration (15:6-7)
I. The search for the shepherd (15:4)
First, let’s take a look at the shepherd’s quest.
Jesus began the parable by saying in verse 4, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the field, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ? ?”
Kenneth E. Bailey has written extensively about the culture that probably existed in Jesus’ day. It is necessary to understand the cultural background to interpret the parable correctly. Bailey points out that the context for this part of the parable appears to be a village community. There were maybe a few hundred people living together in the town and they were deeply connected as a community.
A man who had a hundred sheep in that culture was rich. He probably hired a family member to take care of the flock. bailey says,
The extended family owns the sheep. The pastor is not a “hireman” or an “outsider.” He is a member of the extended family and naturally feels responsible to the entire extended family; any loss is a loss for all of them. This understanding of culture clarifies the joy in the community reflected in the center of the parable. In short, the extended family loses if a sheep is lost; the whole clan rejoices if the lost one is found.
So, the owner lost one of his sheep. Jesus did not say what caused the sheep to go astray. Lost sheep are easily disoriented when lost. They are helpless in the face of danger. And they don’t find their way home by themselves. All they can do is wait for the shepherd to rescue them.
Isn’t this a picture of our own spiritual condition? Apart from Christ, we are lost. We are defenseless against spiritual danger. And we cannot find our way to God by ourselves. The only thing we can do is wait for Jesus to rescue us.
Of course, the shepherd goes after the one who is lost, until he finds it. That’s a beautiful picture of what Jesus does, isn’t it? Like the shepherd in this parable, Jesus came to earth to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). As Philip Ryken says, “When we are lost, when we have wandered the far hills of disobedience, when we are alone and afraid, when we are wounded and weak, when we are helpless against our enemies, when we are unable to save ourselves – it is just then that Jesus comes to rescue us.” And, of course, Jesus searches and finds each of his lost sheep.
The fact that the shepherd seeks and finds…