Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:1-7 ESV)
We talk about Jesus telling this story all the time and about the sheep the shepherd goes looking for, but what about those the shepherd left behind? Here in Luke the 99 are left in the open country, where predators can get them and the one who protects them is not to be found. They can get into all kinds of trouble and follow each other off a cliff… Jesus says the shepherd leaves the sheep in the open to go and look for the one that is missing. They are left in community, but unprotected by the shepherd. They have to look out for each other.
This story is the first in a chapter filled with stories of lost things, but it is not really about the lost things. Or about those who need to repent repenting. Not that we all do not need to repent, but I do not think this chapter is about the lost things. This first story is not about the sheep that is lost. I mean really how does a sheep repent if it is about the lost thing repenting?
So how does a sheep repent…
They say “I’m sorry I’ve been baaaaad…”
And the next story in the chapter is about the woman who has 10 coins and loses 1 of them and she tears the house apart looking for it. If this is a story about the lost repenting how does the coin repent?
They say, “I promise I’ll change!”
Neither of these stories is about the lost item repenting. They are about the person who has lost them searching for them. Risking everything or staying up all night and moving everything and doing everything possible to find that thing that was lost. It is not about the item repenting.
And the third story in chapter 15 you may know as the prodigal son…
Again this is not a story about the son repenting, or being lost. Yes the son repents and is lost, but that is not the story…
I mean does the story start ‘there was a boy who had a brother and a father…’
No the story starts ‘there was a man who had two sons…’
The story is about the father! It is not the story of the prodigal son, but it is the story of the loving father who goes to great lengths to search out the son he had lost!
So worry not lost sheep, God your heavenly father is searching for you, and all you need to do is turn around and he will be right behind you waiting to welcome you home.
aSacredRebel 