The Lost Parables
Read Luke 15:1-10
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
1. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.
2. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3. Then Jesus told them this parable:
4. “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
5. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6. and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
7. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The Parable of the Lost Coin.
8. “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
9. And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’
10. In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
- Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.
2. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3. Then Jesus told them this parable:
Who is Jesus talking to? Who is the audience of the parable?
Pharisees. Like we said last week, the pharisees are the educated “upper class” people. They think they are above the common people. They think they are pleasing to God.
What does Jesus think of the Pharisees?
Matt 23:13
Matt 23:15
Matt 23:23
Matt 23:25
Matt 23:27
Matt 23:29
Jesus calls them Hypocrites 6 times in just this chapter of Matthew.
The Pharisees love the law of God, which in itself is not a bad thing.
Psalm 119:97
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Psalm 119:165
Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
However, the Pharisees do not use the law to the right way.
What is God’s law for?
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
They came up with more rules that went beyond those given to Moses. Instead of practicing justice and mercy, religious leaders came up with a legalistic interpretation that weighed the people down with duties and obligations. They made the law a burden for the people rather than something to teach and guide them.
The Pharisees forget about grace. Because they try to do the right thing, but do not have empathy for those that do the wrong thing, or sin. The great irony of the pharisee is, this is a sin itself. They are proud. Not of God, but of themselves.
Are we like the pharisees? How?
Now look at how Jesus starts the parables.
“Suppose YOU have 100 sheep…” In other words, suppose you are a shepherd.
Or suppose YOU are a woman…
Jesus purposefully uses examples of people that the Pharisees would consider themselves better than. They are the hero’s of the story’s and they are used to demonstrate the love of God.
When Jesus compares the love of the Father to the actions of a shepherd and a woman, he challenges the Pharisees in their prejudicial and judgmental attitudes. If the Pharisees were willing to humble themselves to identify with these characters, they would learn much about the character of God.
The lost Sheep
4. “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
What do you think when you hear that the shepherd left the 99 to search for the 1?
Does he leave the 99 in danger? Are they safe already? Is it like they are in Heaven?
Put yourself in this place. Imagine counting and coming up short. Panicking; counting again. Which way to go? How long will it take?
Is there safety assumed or just not part of the point of the story?
i. “No creature strays more easily than a sheep; none is more heedless; and none so incapable of finding its way back to the flock, when once gone astray: it will bleat for the flock, and still run on in an opposite direction to the place where the flock is: this I have often noticed.” (Clarke) Quote from a shepherd
The lost sheep would never save himself, or find the shepherd himself. If the shepherd did not take action, the sheep was doomed. The sheep cannot save himself and neither can we.
iMany rabbis of that time believed that God received the sinner who came to Him the right way. But in the parable of the shepherd and the sheep, Jesus taught that God actively seeks out the lost. He does not grudgingly receive the lost; instead, He searches after them. God finds the sinner more than the sinner does find God.
“A great Jewish scholar has admitted that this is the one absolutely new thing which Jesus taught men about God – that he actually searched for men.” (Barclay)
5. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.
He does not just actively seek him and find him, he then carries him. He doesn’t just carry him, he carries him HOME.
Romans 5:6 – You see, at just the right time, when we were still without strength, Christ died for the ungodly.
6. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
The emphasis in this parable is not on the proportion, but on the joy of finding the lost. This was the error of the Pharisees and scribes who complained. They were not joyful when tax collectors and sinners drew near to Jesus.
Imagine the pharisees saying, “its not fair. He was not good enough. The celebration does not match the deeds of the “sinner.:”
7. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Now Jesus goes from sheep to people. The sheep was saved by no work of his own. As said before, he could not save himself. He was helpless. Jesus adds a key word here, what is it?
Repent. To repent means to turn around. You are going away from God, repent means to turn back to God. The sheep was wandering and Jesus whet seeking him out and turned him around and brought him home.
99 righteous who do not need to repent. What does this mean? Do they not need repenting because they area already saved? Is Jesus saying that in jest, They don’t NEED to repent cause they are soooo good? Are the pharisees the 99? If so, then does it make more sense that Jesus left the 99 to find the one who is lost?
The Parable of the Lost Coin.
8. “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
9. And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’
10. In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
8. “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
What is different here?
First the shepherd searched. Who is the shepherd?
Now it is a woman. Who is she?
She is us. The shepherd is Jesus. Both are searching for the lost.
What if anything do you think it means that it is now 1 of 10 and it was 1 of 100?
Our “flock” vs Gods?
Put yourself in this place. Imagine her on her hands and knees looking thru dirt or straw for a small coin. It takes a lot of effort.
Matthew 28:19 – Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
This is our calling. God does it as the shepherd and we need to do it as a disciple. In both cases there is the same celebration in heaven.
Further thought:
What is missing? How is the sheep lost? How was the coin lost? Who is responsible? Who dropped the ball? These questions are not asked.
A blog by Rick Morley:
Which one of 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 he finds it?
Nobody. No one does this. No one would ever do that.
It’s insanity. If you lose 1% of your holdings, you don’t risk losing the 99% of your holdings to get it back. By leaving the 99, you risk them roaming off, being stolen, or being killed and eaten by a wolf.
No one leaves the 99.
Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
Nobody. No one does this.
You don’t call friends and neighbors together for a celebration only to spend more money feeding and entertaining them than what you found was worth. I mean why bother looking for the coin at all, if you’re just going to blow more money anyway?
It’s insanity. Nobody does this.
Except Jesus.
Jesus does this. Jesus leaves the 99 to search for the lost. Jesus sweeps the house and then throws a party when the lost are found. It’s totally and thoroughly insane. And, that’s why the Gospel it is such Good News.
http://www.rickmorley.com/archives/2751
Surprised by the Parables – Michelle Lee Barnewall