Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 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. “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:1-10
It is easy to overlook the fact that before Jesus tells the famous parable of the Prodigal Son, He tells these two other shorter parables about lost things that become found; the lost sheep and the lost coin. It is very interesting that of all of the animals that Jesus could have chosen for His parable, He chose sheep; not a dog, or a pig, or a monkey, or a peacock, it was a lost sheep.
There is something unusual about sheep. Unlike other animals they do not often deliberately run away. A dog who wants to be free, given a chance, will bolt out of the yard at the first opportunity. A horse or cow will do the same. But sheep do not. They only wander away, they do not mean to. They just drift away without realizing it. Thus Jesus has deliberately chosen an animal which represents people who are lost, but who never intended to be lost. They never meant to be, and they don't know how it happened. Without ever meaning to they wander off and suddenly find themselves lost, and they do not know how it happened.
Phillip Keller in his little book, A Shepherd looks At Psalm 23, says that you can watch a sheep get himself lost. He is with the flock at first. Then he sees some grass a few paces away that looks good to him so he goes over and begins to nibble. Then he sees some more grass a few steps away and he moves a little further and then a little further. He is concerned only about the immediate, and, little by little, he is drawn away without realizing it. Suddenly he looks around for the flock, and finds they are nowhere in sight. He begins to bleat and run around, but he does not know in which direction to go, nor how to hide - so he panics, he runs in circles. Every shepherd knows that a sheep in that condition is utterly helpless.
This is the picture that Jesus gives us of what it means to be spiritually lost. There are millions of people living for the moment, moving from one experience to another, without considering where they are really headed or why. Eventually, they look around at their life and think to themselves, “Where am I? How did I get here?”
Now one of the keys to grasping Jesus’ meaning in this parable is to reflect on how the shepherd responds to his lost sheep. He left the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and went after the one. That is most significant. It pictures the activity of God, as expressed in the person of the Lord Jesus himself. He left something to come and find us. As Paul states it so beautifully in the letter to the Philippians, he did not count the fact that he was equal with God a thing to be held on to, but instead emptied himself, took upon himself the form of a servant, and was found in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6-7). He left, and he came. You can see how beautifully this is fulfilled in our Lord's own ministry.
A wonderful example of this is how Jesus dealt with his Disciple named Matthew. Remember that Matthew was a tax collector. He belonged to this crowd of extortionists who made their living by overcharging taxpayers (see yesterday’s devotion). He was one of the outsiders of society. He had full pockets, but an empty heart. But one day there stood before him a man whom he had seen and heard speaking, this man from Galilee, this stranger from Nazareth. Suddenly the man turned and looked at him, sitting there behind his table, with all his money around him. Those eyes looked into his eyes, and Matthew heard him speaking to him. He could not believe it - that this man, who was obviously a prophet, should speak to him, an untouchable tax collector! To his astonishment he heard Jesus say, "Follow me," (Matthew 9:9). And Matthew just left all the money, stood up, and followed him. What he did next has always fascinated me. He came to Jesus and said, "Master, I have made a feast in my house for all my friends. Would you come?" And Jesus went. He went because there were gathered all the tax collectors that Matthew knew, ready to listen to him as he reached out to find these outsiders who were lost in the midst of their own wealth.
The final key to this parable is how the shepherd reacts once the lost sheep is recovered – he celebrates! This reveals the value that God sets on lost men and women. They are not worthless in his sight. They are not written off, nor neglected. They are made in his image. Therefore they are of unspeakable value to God. They bear his own mark, marred, defiled, and ruined as that image may be, and he longs to find them and reach them and restore them!
So Jesus, in effect, turns the objection of the Pharisees around on them. The question is not why does Jesus eat with Tax-Collectors and sinners? The question is why don’t you?
Pastor Jeff Frazier
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