Luke 15:1-7, The Parable of the Lost Sheep

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

¹ Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 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. Does he not 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.

Jesus’ Relationship to Sinners (15:1-2)

• In the Middle East, table fellowship is a relatively serious matter
• To invite a man to a meal is to honor him
• It is an offer of peace, trust, brotherhood and forgiveness
• Meals with Jesus were an expression of his ministry and message, eschatological meals in anticipation of kingdom celebrations, a signal of inclusion in the community of salvation, the most meaningful expression of the message of the redeeming love of God
• A nobleman may feed any number of lesser needy people as a sign of generosity, but he does not eat with them
• When guests, however, are received the host eats with them; the meal is a sign of acceptance and the host affirms this by showering his guests with a long series of compliments to which the guests must respond
• The Pharisees accuse Jesus of “welcoming” sinners and eating with them, indicating that he was likely the host, but at least dining with them.
• The guest is assumed to be bringing honor to the house in which he is entertained.
• The host begins by referring to the honor brought to his house by the guests.
• The guests can respond either by invoking the honor of God on the noble host or by affirming that they, too, have received honor by being in the host’s presence.
• The offense of the Pharisees called forth from Jesus a defense of his actions.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep (15:3-7)

Structure

A   Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep

B   and loses one of them.

C   Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country

        1 and go after the lost sheep

            2 until he finds it, and when he finds it,

                3 he joyfully puts it on his shoulders

                    4 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together

                3’  and says, ‘Rejoice with me

           2’  I have found

       1’  my lost sheep

A’  I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven

B’  over one sinner who repents

C’  than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent

 

Exposition

• Telling a parable about shepherds to the Pharisees was a touchy thing
• Moses was accepted as a shepherd of sheep then people; kings were referred to in the Old Testament as shepherds (Ez. 34); God Himself is viewed as a shepherd (Ps.23) – a noble symbol
• But shepherds in the first century were considered unclean; for a Pharisee an immoral person was one who did not keep the law or who engaged in one of the proscribed trades, among which was herding sheep.
• It is difficult to understand how they could revere the shepherds of the Bible but despise the shepherds of their own day, but Jesus’ choice of shepherds to star in his parable was a shock to the sensibilities of the Pharisees. Jesus says, “Suppose one of you has sheep…”  To show more deference to them he could have said, “Suppose one of you owns a hundred sheep and heard his hired shepherd had lost one, would he not summon him and demand the sheep be found under threat of fine?”
• Anyone who had this many sheep would not personally shepherd them, but would hire or let someone lesser in the extended family deal with them. Typically several families with small herds would get together and hire a shepherd, so that the shepherd leading this many sheep would not be the owner, but a member of the extended family who felt some responsibility for the sheep.  If a sheep was lost the whole clan would be at a loss.
• When the sheep is found, the shepherd rejoices upon finding him and then rejoices again with the community, back in the village.
• When a sheep is lost it will lie down helplessly and refuse to budge. The shepherd is forced to carry it over a long distance.  But this shepherd rejoices in this burden of restoration.  He placed the sheep on his shoulders, “knowing that the hard work” was yet before him.  The sheep was not lost, but the shepherd loses him, being in some sense negligent in its loss.
• The shepherd leaves the 99 in the wilderness, then returns to the house with the one. Peasants living on the edge of the pasture lands bring their sheep to the courtyard of the family home at the end of each day.  Flocks are never attended by one person.  Another shepherd took the 99 home, and upon arrival all would realize the absence of the other shepherd and be concerned about the safety of the man and the sheep.  The return of both would be a source of great joy.  The sheep is most likely owned by these same friends and neighbors.  The lost sheep is a community loss.
• A lost sinner is lost from the community and it is natural to expect joy at his recovery, not murmuring (as the Pharisees did).

 

Themes

• The joy of the shepherd expressed in and shared with a community
• The joy in the burden of restoration (Jesus is defending his welcoming of sinners and it involves restoration to a community; the search has a price, but so does the restoration; without the shouldering of this burden there is not restoration, but the shepherd accepts this burden with joy)
• Gracious love seeks the sinner before he repents, while he is lost, because he wants him back, views him or her as belonging to himself, and he will go to great lengths to win him or her back (not necessarily identified only with God; the Pharisees are encouraged to identify with the shepherd and see their failure to care for these lost sheep). Jesus is saying he seeks the lost sheep and so should they.
• Repentance
  • Some rabbis believed there were people who were “completely righteous” whom God loved in a special way; others that His greatest love was reserved for repentant sinners (Talumd Hiyya B.Abba also said in R. Johanan’s name: All the prophets prophesied only for repentant sinners; but as for the perfectly righteous (who had never sinned at all), “the eye hath not seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” — Ben Sirach earlier had written, “Do not revile a repentant sinner; remember that we all are guilty.”  — Isa. 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray.”)
  • “The ninety-nine who need no repentance” is probably irony, and the angels cannot rejoice over the 99 righteous because they are not yet home.

For 1^st century Judaism repentance was a way to bring in the kingdom; for John the Baptist and Jesus repentance was a response to the kingdom already at hand.  For the rabbis repentance was a pre-condition for grace; in Jesus’ parable repentance is “so little” a “human action preparing the way for grace, that it can be placed on the same level of being found.”  The sheep does nothing to prompt the shepherd’s search except being lost.